Criticizing China over Taiwan will have dangerous consequences, the foreign minister warned on Friday, qin gangwhile insisting that Beijing is a “growing force for peace and justice”.
Two weeks ago, China began three days of military exercises around Taiwan – simulating targeted attacks and a blockade of the island – in response to a meeting between the Taiwanese president, Tsai ing-wenand the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, kevin mccarthy.
“Recently, there has been absurd rhetoric accusing China… of unilaterally changing the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, through force or coercion, and disturbing peace and stability across the Strait,” Qin said. while delivering the keynote speech at a forum on Chinese modernization.
“Such claims go against basic common sense about international relations and historical justice,” he told the audience in Shanghai. “The logic is absurd and the consequences dangerous.”
China claims Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to bring the island under its control one day. “The Taiwan issue is the core of China’s fundamental interests,” Qin continued.
“We will never back down from any act that undermines China’s sovereignty and security. Those who play with fire in Taiwan will end up getting burned.”
Qin will visit Philippines later, a week after the largest joint US-Philippine military exercises in history in the South China Sea, another area of territorial dispute for Beijing.
The remarks on Taiwan came at the end of a speech in which Qin repeatedly stressed China’s peaceful intentions.
“We have the best track record in fulfilling the purposes and principles of the Charter of the UN, international law and the basic norms of international relations”, he stated.
Highlighting China’s role in the recent reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, he reiterated Beijing’s position as a mediator in the Ukraine war.
“China does not add fuel to the fire or take advantage of the situation,” he stated, adding that, on the contrary, he is promoting peace talks to de-escalate the crisis.
“Facts have shown that China’s march toward modernization is a growing force for peace and justice.”
Other speakers at the Lanting Forum included former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara.
“China has proposed a different path to modernization,” Rousseff said.
He insisted that there is no single development model, a message that was repeated throughout the Forum’s opening ceremony.
(With information from AFP)
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Source-www.infobae.com