BEIJING (Dispatches) – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a regular briefing on Friday that U.S. House Speaker Nansy Pelosi should pay visits to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya to apologize for the killings of civilians by U.S. troops there.
“If Pelosi cares so much about democracy and human rights, she’d better visit Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya where she could express repentance for the killings of hundreds of thousands of civilians by the U.S. military. She could also promise those countries that similar ferocities that resulted from a U.S. violation of the UN Charter and international law norms will never ever be repeated,” the Chinese diplomat said.
Wang Wenbin criticized Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan as a “major political provocation” in violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of three joint Chinese-U.S. communiques. “Her visit had nothing to do with democracy, that was a political trick that ran counter to the will of 1.4. billion Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan. The visit also challenged the one-China principle which is widely recognized by the international community,” he remarked.
Tensions escalated in the Taiwan Strait and across the Asia Pacific region following Pelosi’s visit to Taipei on August 2-3, which sparked fierce criticism from the Chinese mainland. Beijing had repeatedly warned Washington that it would retaliate if Pelosi, the third highest-ranking official in the U.S. government, made good on her plans to visit.
The Chinese military launched drills with firings of missiles in six areas around Taiwan on August 4. The drills were supposed to last till August 7, but the Chinese Defense Ministry said those had been extended for an indefinite period.
On August 10, the spokesperson for the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command said that all tasks had been successfully completed in the recent drills, but he did not say if those had been wrapped up though.
The Chinese government blames the escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait and across the Asia Pacific region on U.S. policy. Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that America’s foreign policy towards China in recent years caused Beijing “serious difficulties” in their mutual relations, with clashes on issues like trade, pandemics, and regional interference.
Xi said that despite all difficulties created by the U.S., Beijing will not allow a foreign force to bully and oppress it, warning that anyone who tries to do so will “be badly battered by the Chinese nation’s perseverance.”
Xi said the “era of China being bullied is gone forever,” as he stood at the Gate of Heavenly Peace above a portrait of Mao Zedong, adding that, “No one should underestimate the Chinese nation’s will and power to fight against foreign power.”
“We will not accept sanctimonious preaching from those who feel they have the right to lecture us,” he said. “We have never bullied, oppressed, or subjugated the people of any other country, and we never will.”
“By the same token, we will never allow anyone to bully, oppress, or subjugate [China]. Anyone who tries will find them on a collision course with a steel wall forged by 1.4 billion people.”
Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949 when the Kuomintang’s remaining forces headed by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) were defeated in the Chinese Civil War and took refuge on the island. Taiwan has preserved the flag and several other symbols of the Republic of China that had existed before the Communists took over the mainland. Beijing views the island as one of its provinces.