Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - The relationship between China and the United States will be weakened by Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiw...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - The relationship between China and the United States will be weakened by Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan, according to Zhang Jun, China's ambassador to the United Nations, on Monday.
As the United States declared it would not be frightened by Chinese warnings to never "sit idly by" if Pelosi made the trip, three sources indicated she was scheduled to visit Taiwan on Tuesday.
At a press conference to announce the start of China's August U.N. Security Council president, Zhang stated that "such a visit is clearly very much dangerous, very much inflammatory." The relationship between China and the US will suffer if such a visit takes place.
He added that Pelosi's trip shouldn't be compared to the last time a U.S. House speaker visited the island Beijing claims as its own, which was in 1997.
A previous error does not justify a subsequent error, according to Zhang. Furthermore, with the assistance of some outside forces, the situation in Taiwan is also evolving.
"The propensity for independence in Taiwan is growing. If we don't act forcefully and appropriately to halt it, things could get out of hand "Zhang told New York-based journalists.
In a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, he claimed that U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed Washington's commitment to the one-China concept. He asked Washington to uphold this commitment.
According to Washington's "one-China policy," Beijing receives diplomatic recognition rather than Taipei. However, it is required by American law to give Taiwan's democratically elected government the resources to defend itself, and congressional demand for more overt assistance has increased.
At the UN on Friday, China charged that the US was using a double standard by contesting Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan while highlighting Ukrainian sovereignty following a Russian invasion.
On Monday, Zhang emphasised: "We will take all necessary measures to safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity."
