As Taiwan tensions flare, China labels US 'biggest destroyer' of peace

The US has become the “biggest destroyer” of regional stability and peace across the Taiwan Strait, China’s foreign minister said on Wednesday as tensions escalate over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

Pelosi’s actions have “proven once again that some US politicians have become troublemakers” for China-US relations, Wang Yi said in a statement, his second in less than 24 hours, a rarity for the top Chinese diplomat.

Asserting that Taiwan’s reunification with China “is an inevitability of history,” Wang urged the US to “not fantasize about manipulating geopolitical games.”

“The introduction of the Taiwan question into the regional strategy by the US, which inflates tensions and stokes confrontation, is against the trend of regional development and goes against the expectations of the people in the Asia-Pacific. This is very dangerous and stupid,” he said.

Pelosi, the first speaker of the US House of Representatives to visit Taiwan in 25 years after Republican Newt Gingrich’s 1997 trip, reached Taipei on Tuesday night.

Soon after her plane landed, China announced it will launch drills around the self-ruled island, home to over 24 million people.

China views Taiwan as a “breakaway province” and has vowed to reunify it with the mainland, including by force if necessary.

Wang reiterated that Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan “seriously violates the one-China principle, maliciously infringes on China’s sovereignty and blatantly engages in political provocations.”

On Washington’s argument that there is a precedent of a US House speaker visiting Taiwan, Wang emphasized that “past mistakes cannot be used as an excuse to repeat them today.”

‘Ugly records of gross meddling’

Accusing the US of trying to hinder “the complete reunification of China,” Wang stressed that “it will be all in vain.”

“The US should not dream of obstructing China’s reunification. Taiwan is a part of China. The complete reunification of China is the trend of the times and an inevitability of history. We will leave no room for ‘Taiwan independence’ forces and external interference,” he warned.

“The US will only leave more ugly records of gross meddling in other countries’ internal affairs in history.”

He said US attempts to undermine China’s development and stability “will be totally futile and surely lead to total failure,” urging Washington to “stop playing the ‘Taiwan card’ to disrupt the Asia-Pacific region.”

“The US side claimed that China is escalating the situation, but the basic facts are that the US first provoked China on the Taiwan question and blatantly violated China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.

Brushing aside claims that China’s pursuit of reunification “is a ‘threat’ to Taiwan,” Wang said: “The basic logic is that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory and the Taiwan question is purely an internal affair of China. It is lawful and justified that China upholds territorial integrity and opposes secession.”

In an apparent warning to Taipei, he said “clinging to the US to seek ‘independence’ is a dead end.”