China tells United States to not cross the 'red line' on Taiwan question

In his first major remarks since taking over as China's Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, while speaking at the sidelines of China's annual meeting of the parliament, said that Taiwan was the "first red line" United States must refrain from crossing in Sino-US relations. He also said that it was "absurd" for US officials to reject Taiwan as China's internal affair. "The Taiwan question is the core of the core interests of China, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-US relations and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations," he said.

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Qin also blamed Washington for "the Taiwan question."

"The United States has unshakable responsibility for causing the Taiwan question."

He further said that Beijing will keep working for "peaceful reunification" of the so-called two Chinas. Qin added that China reserves the right to take all necessary measures.

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"No one should ever underestimate the firm resolve strong will and great capability of the Chinese government and people to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Recently, tensions between China and Taiwan have seen a significant escalation. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has, in the past three years, ramped up diplomatic and military pressure to push Taipei into accepting Chinese sovereignty.

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Taiwan, on the other hand, strongly disputes China's territorial claims and says only Taiwanese people have the right to decide their future. Washington supports Taiwan's sovereignty claims. In 2022, US President Joe Biden signed off a defence spending bill including up to $10 billion (€9.4 billion) in assistance for Taiwan. He has even said that Washington will intervene if China was to mount an unprovoked attack on Taiwan.

(With inputs from agencies)

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