Any Provocative Move to Challenge China’s Red-line Bound to Fail

Liu Xianfa*

Taiwan question bears on China’s core interests and is the most important and sensitive issue in China-US relations. In his latest phone call with President Xi Jinping on July 28, the US President Joe Biden reassured that the one-China policy of the US has not changed and will not change, and that the US does not support “Taiwan Independence”. The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also made same pledges in talks with their Chinese counterparts.

True to US politicians’ nature, they always say one thing and do another. Although China has repeatedly made clear to the US its serious concerns over US House Speaker Pelosi’s potential visit to Taiwan as well as China’s firm opposition to it, such a visit still took place. Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan is a watershed event in Cross-Straits relations as well as China-US relations. 

It sends another wrong signal to the separatist elements seeking “Taiwan independence”, constitutes a gross interference in China’s internal affairs, seriously undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, wantonly tramples on the one-China principle, greatly threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, severely undermines China-US relations, and leads to a very serious situation and grave consequences. 

There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inseparable part of China. It is an established international consensus and a widely recognized basic norm in international relations. The one-China principle is a fundamental principle affirmed in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758. It is also the premise on which China established diplomatic relations with 181 countries, including the US. In December 1978, China and the US issued the Joint Communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations, in which the US “recognizes the government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China” and “acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is a part of China. ”

The whole world now knows which side is breaking its own words, which side is stirring up trouble, and which side is taking unilateral actions to change the status quo of the Straits. Pelosi is the third highest-ranking official in the US government, and second in the line of succession to the US presidency. Whatever the timing or the way she goes to Taiwan, it will seriously violate the one-China principle the US is committed to in the three Communiqués which are the foundation for diplomatic relations between the two countries, and will undoubtedly create an egregious political impact. 

The separation of powers in the US by no means makes Pelosi’s Taiwan trip excusable. And the absurd assertion that “If the Speaker does decide to visit and China tries to create some kind of crisis or otherwise escalate tensions, that would be entirely on Beijing” made by Secretary of State Blinken only bankrupts US credit with its hypocrisy.

In fact, for a period of time, the US side has been ramping up its efforts to play the “Taiwan card” with the attempt to use it to contain China. It keeps distorting and hollowing out the one-China policy, strengthening official interaction with Taiwan, helping Taiwan develop so-called asymmetrical defense capabilities, advocating the theory of “undecided status” of Taiwan, and thus bolstering “Taiwan independence” separatists. The Taiwan question concerns China’s core interests, over which there is no room for compromise. We will never allow any room for “Taiwan independence” forces in whatever form. No one should underestimate the great resolve, firm will and strong capability of the Chinese people in defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity. As the one who provoked the current tensions, the US has to bear all the serious consequences arising therefrom. 

Just as President Xi Jinping has emphasized in his phone call with President Biden, resolutely safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is the firm will of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people. Those who play with fire will perish by it. No force can stop China from achieving national reunification between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. National reunification has never been a matter of yes or no, but a choice of path and time. Any provocative move to challenge China’s red-line is bound to fail.

*Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Macao Special Administrative Region