Staff Reports
Taiwan staged air attack drills Monday as China warned the U.S. against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's arrival. The ChiComs warned the US of "serious consequences" Xi told CBS, "Those who play with fire will perish by it."
“The Chinese side has made it clear to the U.S. on many occasions that it is firmly opposed to Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. We are fully prepared,” said foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. “If the U.S. goes its own way, China will certainly take firm and forceful measures to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the United States should be held responsible for any serious consequences,” he said, via Fox News.
Pelosi hasn't confirmed if or when she'll come, but President Biden said a trip is "not a good idea"
Administration officials criticize a possible trip's timing and lack of White House cooperation.
Axios reported that President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a tense two-hour, 17-minute call on Thursday about Taiwan.
According to China, Xi warned Biden. “Public opinion shall not be violated. If you play with fire, you get burned. I hope the US side can see this clearly,” he told Biden, according to China’s state news agency.
The White House was less precise. “On Taiwan, President Biden underscored that the United States policy has not changed and that the United States strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” a US readout said, CNN said.
Xi is uneasy about Nancy Pelosi's prospective visit and the 20th Communist Party Congress later this year. Any fissures in U.S. commitment to One China might damage his influence.
Xi emphasized the necessity for bilateral coordination on macroeconomic measures to guarantee food and energy security. Covid-19 policies were discussed. Both presidents requested their teams to follow up on Thursday's conversation, especially on climate change and health security.
Climate change is silly. Our economy collapses while they build coal plants and promise to halt.
China's authoritarian ruling Communist Party considers democratic, self-ruling Taiwan its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary. It advertises this threat by staging military exercises and flying warplanes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone or across the Taiwan Strait's center line.
Beijing believes these moves are meant to prevent formal independence advocates and foreign allies, namely the U.S., from interfering more than 70 years after the sides separated in civil war. AP surveys show Taiwan's 23 million people reject China's claims that the island is a straying Chinese province that must be controlled by Beijing.
In a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted Beijing's concerns about a possible visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and said that Washington should abide by the ‘one-China principle’ https://t.co/qs5c9bDG9R pic.twitter.com/gn1txqxWLY
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 29, 2022
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Independent Sentinel.
