Hua Chunying Photo: VCG

In issues concerning national sovereignty and territorial integrity, China's countermeasures are necessary and valid, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a routine press conference on Friday in response to some Western officials' accusation that China is overreacting to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan island. 

White House spokesman John Kirby told the media on Thursday that "China has chosen to overreact and use the speaker's visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait."

Kirby called China's actions part of a "manufactured crisis" but also said that Beijing was attempting to alter the regional power balance. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also said the same day that China had no reason to overreact after Pelosi's visit.

In response, Hua said it is the US that started the provocation. China's countermeasures are necessary warnings and justifiable defensive action for national sovereignty and security. 

The US and its allies accuse China of overreaction, but if they really care about regional peace and stability, why didn't they stop Pelosi from visiting, Hua asked, noting that the US, the initiator of the crisis, should bear all the consequences.   

The essence of the Taiwan question is not a so-called democratic issue, but a major principle concerning China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The US side should think differently. "If a certain state in the US tried to separate from the US and form a separate state, and another country provided it with weapons and political support, would the US government and people allow it?" Hua asked.

Pelosi's visit seriously violated the one China principle, trampled on basic norms governing international relations and seriously damaged China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Hua said. 

She noted that China had made diplomatic efforts to the greatest extent possible, repeatedly warning the US side of the seriousness and danger of Pelosi's visit to Taiwan island through various channels, and clearly pointed out that China would not sit idly by and would allow no room for any form of "Taiwan independence" forces.

Global Times