China’s foreign minister has stressed the need for Taipei to be reunited with Beijing, saying the self-ruled island is "not a chess piece to be used by others."
Wang Yi made the remarks in his opening speech at a ceremony for a symposium in the capital Beijing on the international situation and China's diplomacy in 2021.
"The one-China consensus has been further consolidated in the international community. Taiwan is a wanderer who will eventually go home, not a chess piece that is used by others. China must and will inevitably be reunited," Wang said in his address to the symposium.
The top Chinese diplomat said the root cause of the new round of tensions across the Taiwan Strait lies with the island’s authorities that have attempted to solicit US support for "Taiwan independence" and the United States and certain countries that have deliberately used Taipei to contain Beijing.
Stressing that the one-China principle is in danger of being blurred or even hollowed out, Wang said such “perverse actions” are designed to change the status quo, undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and violate the consensus of the international community as well as the basic norms governing international relations.
Wang also said that China has issued stern warnings and taken powerful countermeasures to deter and deflate the arrogance of the "Taiwan independence" forces.
China has sovereignty over Chinese Taipei, and under the "One China" policy, almost all world countries recognize that sovereignty. The US, too, recognizes Chinese sovereignty over the island but has long courted Taipei in defiance of Beijing.
The United States, which backs Taipei's secessionist president, also continues to sell weapons to the island in violation of its own stated policy.
The US-China relations have grown increasingly tense in recent years, with the world's two largest economies clashing over a range of issues, including trade, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, military activities in the South China Sea, and the origins of the coronavirus.