SHANGHAI: Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has said that both sides of the controversial Taiwan Strait belong to China and that it was proper for his country to uphold its sovereignty.
Qin made the statement at the Lanting Forum in Shanghai, where he talked about a wide range of subjects from debt to the global economy and Taiwan.
He said that recently there had been absurd rhetoric charging China of upsetting the status quo, disrupting tranquility and stability across the Taiwan Strait but the logic was absurd and the conclusion dangerous.
He said that “fair-minded people could see who was engaged in hegemonic bullying and high-minded practices.”
Qin Gang said that it was not the Chinese mainland, but the Taiwan independence pro-independence forces and a handful of countries trying to disrupt the status quo. He said that those who play with fire in Taiwan would eventually get themselves burned.
China recently held military drills around the island after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.
Beijing views Taiwan as its territory, a claim Taipei strongly rejects, and routinely denounces high-level meetings between Taiwanese and foreign leaders and officials.
