BEIJING, July 8 -- Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) answered press questions Friday on the recent visit to Taiwan paid by US Florida Senator, Republican Rick Scott, saying that China is firmly opposed to the US senator’s visit to China’s Taiwan region.
Snr. Col. Wu said that China firmly opposed such move by the US side, which seriously violated the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques, severely undermined the political foundation of China-US relations, heavily damaged the relations between the two countries and the two militaries, and gravely escalated regional tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
In response to the vicious acts of collusion and provocation by the US and the Taiwan region, the PLA Eastern Theater Command has recently organized joint combat-readiness security patrol and combat training exercises involving troops of multiple services and arms in the airspace and waters around the Taiwan Island, Wu said.
He also pointed out that the Taiwan question is purely China’s internal affair. The reunification of the country is absolutely to be realized, and the interference by external forces is doomed to fail. The PLA troops maintain full-time combat readiness and are capable of fighting at any time, and will take all necessary measures to resolutely thwart external interference and the "Taiwan independence" secessionist plot, and resolutely safeguard China’ national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Wu stressed.
