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Pelosi in Taiwan: Those who like playing with fire, perish by it, China tells US
Nancy Pelosi’s visit, the foreign ministry statement said had a ‘severe impact on the political foundation of China-US relations, and seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’
BEIJING: China has warned Washington, saying the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was similar to the US “playing with fire”, soon after the senior American official landed in capital Taipei late on Tuesday night.
“These moves, like playing with fire, are extremely dangerous. Those who play with fire will perish by it,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said the “Taiwan question” is the “most important and most sensitive issue at the very heart of China-US relations”.
It blamed the Taiwan government and the US for trying to change the status quo.
The statement said that on August 2, in disregard of China’s strong opposition and serious representations, Pelosi visited “China’s Taiwan region” in “serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiqués”.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to merge it with the mainland.
The visit, the foreign ministry statement said had a “severe impact on the political foundation of China-US relations, and seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
“It gravely undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and sends a seriously wrong signal to the separatist forces for ‘Taiwan independence’,” the statement added.
“China firmly opposes and sternly condemns this, and has made serious démarche and strong protest to the United States.”
“There is but one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China,” the statement said.
The Chinese foreign ministry argued that since “Speaker Pelosi is the incumbent leader of the US Congress, her visit to and activities in Taiwan, in whatever form and for whatever reason, is a major political provocation to upgrade US official exchanges with Taiwan”.
“China absolutely does not accept this, and the Chinese people absolutely reject this.”
