Reporter: Recently, China has announced eight countermeasures against Washington, including canceling three China-US military exchange programs, in response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to China’s Taiwan region. According to US media reports, the Chinese side has recently rejected phone calls made by the US high-level military officials to the Chinese military leaders. Could you please make comments on this?
Chinese Defense Ministry Spokesperson Senior Colonel Wu Qian: The current tensions across the Taiwan Strait has been a result of provocative acts single-handedly created by the US side, for which the US side must be held accountable and bear full responsibility for the serious consequences of it.
China has stated its solemn position on the relationship between the two countries and the two militaries, as well as the Taiwan question; particularly, the Chinese side has repeatedly lodged stern representations and strong protests over the US House of Representatives Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. However, the US side has said one thing and done another, conniving and supporting Pelosi’s rogue visit, deliberately creating tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
In response to the vicious and provocative actions by the US side, China has announced eight countermeasures, including the cancellation of the arrangement of phone calls between the Chinese and US military leaders at the theater command level, cancellation of working meetings between the defense departments of the two countries, and cancellation of the China-US Maritime Military Safety Consultation Mechanism meetings. The relevant countermeasures taken by the Chinese side are a necessary warning to the provocations made by the US and Taiwan secessionist forces, and a legitimate defence of national sovereignty and security, completely reasonable and appropriate.
The bottom line can never be broken, and sincerity is a prerequisite for communication. While creating a crisis, the US also claims to manage the crisis, trying to find excuses to cover up its wrong words and deeds and provocative actions, and even hyping it up to confuse the public opinion and shift the blame to others. China firmly opposes this. China urges the US side to earnestly respect China’s core interests and major concerns, abandon any illusion of “containing China with Taiwan”, and not go even further down the wrong path.
