Beijing on Thursday slammed an attempt by members of the G-7 and EU to ease tensions around Taiwan following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip, dismissing their joint statement as “ugly,” “shameless,” “evil” and reminiscent of century-old attempts by Western powers to impose imperialist control over China.
“The Chinese people have long ceased to be bullied and pushed around by foreign powers,” a spokesperson for the Chinese mission to the EU said in one of several acerbic responses by Chinese officials to the statement. “Today’s world is no longer an era in which Western powers can run amok. What to do about Taiwan is up to 1.4 billion Chinese people.”
“What is ugly? What is shameless? The statement of the G7 foreign ministers and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is a living specimen of all that,” the spokesperson said. “They collude, do evil and call white black.”
The series of statements from diplomats and spokespeople around the globe came in response to a joint text from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other members of the economic bloc meeting Thursday morning in Cambodia. Their call for China to “remain calm, exercise restraint, act with transparency, and maintain open lines of communication to prevent misunderstanding” comes at a time of near unprecedented military tensions around Taiwan as Beijing lashes out at Pelosi’s 18-hour stopover in Taipei to meet with local officials during a broader Asian tour.
The California Democrat’s departing flight from Taiwan on Wednesday aboard a U.S. military aircraft appears only to have begun the broad and provocative Chinese response. It includes military drills encircling Taiwan in zones nearer the island’s mainland than ever before as a stated practice run for an invasion.
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Source: US News
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