THE visit of Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Nancy Pelosi to China’s Taiwan Province has been under the international spotlight in recent weeks, prompting the Philippine Government to issue a statement on Tuesday, August 2, 2022, calling on US, China to be “responsible actors” in Asia-Pacific. Unfortunately, despite the repeated warnings from China as well as the appeals from the Philippines and some other countries to avoid escalation of tensions, Speaker Pelosi insisted on taking her own course to visit Taiwan on August 2, 2022. Since many people in Mindanao may not know in detail about the Taiwan question and the US involvement into it, I feel obliged to present a brief introduction and explanation on China’s positions with the issue.
The most important of all is the One-China Principle: there is only one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory. The Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. The One-China Principle is an established international consensus and a widely recognized basic norm in international relations, affirmed in Resolution 2758 of the United Nations General Assembly. It is the core of China’s core interests, the premise on which the Poeple’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations with 181 countries. That includes the US, which made a solemn commitment not to engaging in any official or government to government activities with Taiwan in the three China-US joint communiqués, namely the 1972 Communiqué (the Shanghai Communiqué), the 1979 Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, and the 1982 Communiqué.
As current House Speaker of the US, second in the US presidential line of succession, Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, in any form or by any excuse, constitutes a violation of the above-mentioned commitment, infringes China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, undermines peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits as well as regional security and order, supports the secessionists in Taiwan, and further damages the relationship between China and the US.
To put things in context, the US has used Taiwan as a tool to contain China’s development since 1949, and it has been bent on doing so in recent years. The US has been sending naval vessels, and military airplanes to the Straits, creating tension and sowing discord between Taiwan and the mainland, then selling weapons to Taiwan. Similar practices by the US authority to create tensions for its selfish interest in other areas around the world are not new to the international community. As always, the situation in Taiwan has changed for the worse, and the “Taiwan Independence” elements are moving down on the wrong path, which China firmly opposes.
Speaker Pelosi’s uninvited visit to China’s Taiwan Province is apparently another serious provocation against Chinese people. The US turns a deaf ear to all warnings, appeals, and requests of peace-loving countries and therefore, it should bear all the consequences. It is the responsible obligation of China to protect its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and in the meantime, to safeguard regional peace and stability. The message to the US is clear, those who play with fire will perish by it.
