Foreign intervention fueling Taiwan separatists: China on G7 statement
The Chinese Foreign Ministry refutes the G7 statement regarding the Taiwan strait.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin strongly refuted on Friday the G7 foreign minister's statement regarding the situation in the Taiwan Strait.
In a statement issued on Thursday, German Foreign Minister Annalina Birbock quoted the G7 foreign ministers and the European Union High Representative as saying in their meeting that they "oppose unilateral changes to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait," stressing that there had been no change in the members' basic positions on Taiwan nor on the "One China" policy.
"China is not the one that wants to alter the status quo in the Taiwan region, but the ruling progressive democratic party and foreign meddlers are the ones fanning the flames of the separatist Taiwanese forces," Wang stressed.
"The status quo is that both sides of the Strait belong to China [...] Taiwan is part of China, and the sovereignty and territorial unity of China is absolutely non-dividable," the Chinese official stressed.
According to Wang, the One China principle was "a pillar of support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait." He then called on Germany and the other G7 member states to "take practical measures to abide by the One China principle rather than making verbal commitments."
A spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), Senior Colonel Shi Yi, said Wednesday that the Chinese armed forces are still on high alert following the passage of the USS Higgins and the Canadian ship HMSC Vancouver in the Taiwan Strait amid rising regional tensions.
After US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in early August, tensions in the area grew worse. China denounced Pelosi's visit, which it saw as an endorsement of secession, and began extensive military drills close to the island.
Since then, a number of nations, including France, Lithuania, the US, and Japan, have dispatched delegations to the island, raising the already high level of tension in the Taiwan Strait.
Read next: A US Destroyer and a Canadian Frigate Sail Through the Taiwan Strait