Chinese Foreign Minister: Taiwan Is A Homecoming Traveler, Not A Chess Pawn For Others

Menteri Moonlight Negeri China Wang Yi. (Wikimedia Commons/Palácio do Planalto)

JAKARTA - Taiwan is a 'wanderer' who will eventually return home and not a chess piece to play with, the Chinese government's top diplomat said on Monday, reaffirming Beijing's determination to bring the island under its control.

China claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, and in the past two years has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert its sovereignty claim, angering Taipei and deep concern in Washington.

Speaking in Beijing, State Counselor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the cause of the current tension was the Taiwan Government's efforts to "rely on the United States, to achieve independence against the United States and other countries trying to 'use Taiwan to control China'.

"It is these misguided actions that have changed the status quo and undermined peace in the Taiwan Strait, violating the consensus of the international community and the basic norms of international relations," said Wang, who served as head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office.

In response to this, Wang continued, China has taken "strong countermeasures to shock the arrogance of those seeking Taiwan's formal independence."

"Taiwan is a wanderer who will eventually return home, not a chess piece to be used by others. China must and will be reunited," he said.

China is furious with support for Taiwan from the United States, the island's most important international backer and arms supplier despite no formal diplomatic ties.

Meanwhile, the Taiwanese government has repeatedly denounced Chinese pressure, saying only the Taiwanese people have the right to decide their future, that they will not give in to threats.

To note, the Government of the Republic of China fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the Communists, who founded the People's Republic of China.