Beijing may use Anti-Secession Law to seek Taiwan reunification, Chinese foreign minister says
- Wang Yi says if the law is violated, Beijing will take ‘resolute actions to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’
- He also warns that US approach may have ‘subversive impact’ on ties, during meeting with former secretary of state Henry Kissinger
Wang also warned that Washington’s pro-Taiwan, anti-Beijing approach might have a “subversive impact” on US-China ties, during a meeting with former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger on Monday. Wang is in New York for the general debate of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly this week.
Beijing – which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunited, by force if necessary – lodged an official protest with the US over Biden’s remarks.
They were made in an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, when he also said decisions about independence were up to Taiwan. The White House later insisted that US policy on Taiwan – known as “strategic ambiguity” – had not changed.
It comes amid soaring tensions across the Taiwan Strait after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in August, angering Beijing, which responded with unprecedented military drills around the island.
“Achieving peaceful reunification is our greatest wish, and we will do our best to achieve it. But it must be seen that the more rampant ‘Taiwan independence’ is, the less likely the peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue will be,” Wang told Kissinger, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement on Tuesday.