ROME — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned the U.S. and its allies not to “interfere” in Taiwan affairs, according to a press release issued hours before he joined the G20 leaders’ summit in Rome.
“Recently, the U.S. and other countries attempted to achieve breakthroughs on the issue of Taiwan, which is in contravention of the political guarantees they made when they established diplomatic relations with [the People’s Republic of] China,” Wang said.
“If they couldn’t stop the One China principle 50 years ago, it’s even more impossible in today’s world in the 21st century,” Wang added. “If they forge ahead regardless, they will definitely pay a price accordingly.”
His remarks came amid heightened tensions between China and the West over Taiwan. In an interview with CNN this week, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen acknowledged the existence of U.S. military personnel on the self-ruling island that Beijing considers its own territory.
Wang’s intervention also came as Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, is touring Europe. On Thursday and Friday, Wu met with EU officials and lawmakers and addressed a group of anti-Beijing global lawmakers gathering in Rome via a video link.
Wu said that he’d held a “rewarding meeting” with Members of the European Parliament, adding that “Taiwan is not alone.”
He asked them for support over an EU-Taiwan investment deal, which the European Commission is reluctant to start negotiating for fear of upsetting Beijing.
On Thursday, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote a letter to EU lawmakers defending Lithuania against Chinese threats over a new Taiwanese office in the Baltic country. “We regret the reaction by the Chinese authorities … Let us stress that threats, political pressure and coercive measures directed against EU member states are not acceptable. We will push back against such actions,” they wrote.
