ISLAMABAD, July 16 (Alliance News): China’s Foreign Minister Weng Yi has said that countries in the region should avoid being used as ‘chess pieces’ by world powers while the situation in the region is in danger of changing due to geopolitical factors.
Speaking at the Secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia, Wang Yi said that many countries in the region are under pressure to become parties, according to the foreign media.
Speaking through his translator, the Chinese foreign minister said that to avoid being used as chess pieces by big powers and coercion, we must keep the region geopolitically separate, while the future of our region is ours. .
Southeast Asia has long been a hotbed of conflict between major powers given its strategic importance, with countries in the region now wary of being caught in the middle of US-China rivalry.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its territory, based on what it says are historical maps, contradicting some ASEAN countries who say such claims by China are international. Inconsistent with the law.
The speech by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang came days after he attended the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali and amid Chinese diplomacy that has kept him busy on trips across the region in recent weeks.
On the sidelines of the G20, Wang held a five-hour meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken in what the two described as ‘clear’, their first personal talks since October.
Wang said on Monday that he had told US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken that the two sides should discuss establishing rules for positive dialogue and jointly maintaining regionalism in the Asia-Pacific.
Wang said the main elements are to support the centrality of ASEAN, maintain the framework of the existing regional corporation, respect each other’s legitimate rights and interests in the Asia-Pacific rather than opposing or controlling the other side. .
Asked about Taiwan after his speech, Weng said Washington was trying to play the Taiwan card to stop China’s development by twisting and hollowing out the One China policy.
Tensions between Beijing and Taipei have risen in recent months as China’s military has repeatedly carried out aerial missions over the Taiwan Strait, the strait that separates the island of Taiwan from China.
China regards Taiwan as its ‘sacred’ territory and has never shied away from using force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan says it wants peace but its own people decide its future. can.
However, Washington says it is committed to its One China policy and does not encourage Taiwan independence, but the US is required by the Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
Both sides of the (Taiwan) Strait will enjoy peaceful development, but if the One China principle is arbitrarily challenged and sabotaged, there will be dark clouds over the Strait, Weng warned. There will even be severe storms.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry called Weng’s comments “ridiculous” and said it strongly condemned such a statement.
A spokesman for Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Taiwan is at the forefront of resisting authoritarian expansion and will not bow to threats such as the use of force by the Chinese government.