China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Friday that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to China, and that it is right and proper for China to uphold its sovereignty. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to China, says China’s Foreign Minister.
Qin made the remarks at the Lanting Forum in Shanghai, where he discussed a wide range of topics from debt, the global economy, and Taiwan.
“Recently there has been absurd rhetoric accusing China of upending the status quo, disrupting peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Qin said. “The logic is absurd and the conclusion dangerous.”
He added that “fair-minded people can see who is engaged in hegemonic bullying and high-minded practices.”
“It is not the Chinese mainland, but the Taiwan independence separatist forces and a handful of countries attempting to disrupt the status quo,” Qin said. “Those who play with fire on Taiwan will eventually get themselves burned.”
China recently held military exercises around the self-ruled island after Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, returned to Taipei following a meeting in Los Angeles with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Beijing views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a claim the government in Taipei strongly rejects, and routinely denounces high-level meetings between Taiwanese and foreign leaders and officials. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to China, says China’s Foreign Minister.
The Taiwan issue involves the political and diplomatic status of Taiwan, which is a self-governed democratic island located in East Asia. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) considers Taiwan to be a part of its territory, while Taiwan operates as a separate entity with its own government, economy, and military.
The roots of the Taiwan issue go back to the Chinese Civil War, which ended in 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) declared victory and established the People’s Republic of China on the mainland. The defeated Nationalist government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, retreated to Taiwan and continued to govern from there.
Since then, the PRC has claimed Taiwan as its own, while Taiwan has sought international recognition as a sovereign state. However, most countries, including the United States, recognize the PRC as the sole legitimate government of China and do not officially recognize Taiwan as a separate country.
The Taiwan issue remains a sensitive and complex topic in international relations, with potential implications for regional security and stability. The situation is complicated by the fact that the PRC has not ruled out the use of force to reunify Taiwan with the mainland, while Taiwan seeks to maintain its independence and democratic way of life.
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