“Only when China is fully reunified can there be true peace across the Taiwan Strait,” Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said at the UN General Assembly. He said Beijing would “take the most forceful steps to oppose external interference.”
“Since ancient times, Taiwan has been an inseparable part of China’s territory…It is explicitly stated in the Potsdam Proclamation that all the territories that Japan has stolen from the Chinese including Taiwan shall be restored to China,” said Wang Yi.
China vehemently defends its claim on Taiwan, which separated from the mainland after a 1949 civil war and now functions with its own government. A recent visit by the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, markedly ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The language, while forceful, was not out of the realm of normal for China. Taiwan is a core issue of the country’s policy, and Wang’s appearance – instead of his boss, Chinese leader Xi Jinping – was a signal that the speech was not a major one.
