FILE PHOTO: Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang attends a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (not pictured) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, April 14, 2023. Suo Takekuma/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
SHANGHAI 鈥� China鈥檚 Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Friday that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to China, and that it is right and proper for China to uphold its sovereignty.
Qin made the remarks at the Lanting Forum in Shanghai, where he discussed a wide range of topics from debt, the global economy, and Taiwan.
鈥淩ecently there has been absurd rhetoric accusing China of upending the status quo, disrupting peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,鈥� Qin said. 鈥淭he logic is absurd and the conclusion dangerous.鈥�
He added that 鈥渇air-minded people can see who is engaged in hegemonic bullying and high-minded practices.鈥�
鈥淚t is not the Chinese mainland, but the Taiwan independence separatist forces and a handful of countries attempting to disrupt the status quo,鈥� Qin said. 鈥淭hose who play with fire on Taiwan will eventually get themselves burned.鈥�
China recently held military exercises around the self-ruled island after Taiwan鈥檚 president, Tsai Ing-wen, returned to Taipei following a meeting in Los Angeles with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Beijing views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a claim the government in Taipei strongly rejects, and routinely denounces high-level meetings between Taiwanese and foreign leaders and officials.