China tells Pelosi: Repent from US sins in Afghanistan, Iraq if you truly care about human rights

China has called on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to express remorse and apologize for the atrocities committed by the Americans in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya if she cared so much about human rights.

Speaking at a regular briefing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin criticized Pelosi’s visit to Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) under the pretext of defending democratic values as a "major political provocation" and said the visit, which only escalated tensions in the region, had nothing to do with democracy. 

"Her visit had nothing to do with democracy, that was a political trick that ran counter to the will of 1.4. billion Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan. The visit also challenged the one-China principle which is widely recognized by the international community," he remarked.

"If Pelosi cares so much about democracy and human rights, she’d better visit Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya where she could express repentance for the killings of hundreds of thousands of civilians by the US military. She could also promise those countries that similar ferocities that resulted from a US violation of the UN Charter and international law norms will never ever be repeated," the Chinese diplomat said.

Pelosi’s visit to Taipei on August 2 and 3 prompted China to launch its largest-ever military drills around Taiwan on August 4.

China wrapping up military drills around Taiwan, announcing fresh ones

China is wrapping up its largest-ever military drills around Taiwan which began on Thursday following a visit to Taipei by the US House speaker.

As a result of the civil war in China in the late 1940s and the interference of external forces, the two sides of the Taiwan Straits have fallen into a state of protracted political confrontation.

Since 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek's defeated Kuomintang nationalists fled to the island, Chinese Taipei has been run by a local administration.

But Beijing never agreed with the sovereignty of the Island and considers it as an inseparable territory of China that has never been divided and will never be divided.

At its 26th session in October 1971, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758, which undertook "to restore all its rights to the People's Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations, and to expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it". This resolution settled once and for all the political, legal and procedural issues of China's representation in the UN, and it covered the whole country, including Taiwan. It also spelled out that China has one single seat in the UN, so there is no such thing as "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan".

In this regard, Sun Weidong, China's ambassador to India, said that Beijing's stand on Pelosi's Taipei visit as a "major political provocation" has got the backing of people from over 160 countries. "On Pelosi’s visit to China's Taiwan region, people from over 160 countries have voiced their support for China’s efforts to uphold its sovereignty & territorial integrity," he wrote in a Twitter post.

On Pelosi’s visit to China's Taiwan region, people from over 160 countries have voiced their support for China’s efforts to uphold its sovereignty & territorial integrity. pic.twitter.com/xRKzDmIbeu

— Sun Weidong (@China_Amb_India) August 6, 2022

In the meantime, the United States claims it cannot overlook China's intrusions into the Taiwan Strait.

According to Pelosi, Beijing is trying to create a "new normal" and the US cannot let that happen.

"What we saw with China is that they were trying to establish sort of a new normal. And we just can't let that happen," she said.

Pelosi's Democratic Party mate, US President Joe Biden, warned Americans that China was planning "to eat our lunch".

US-China relations

Biden warned that the Chinese are investing very heavily to deal with a whole range of issues including transportation, and the environment.

If we don't get moving, they are going to eat our lunch, Biden warned.

He said China was investing very heavily to deal with a whole range of issues including transportation and the environment.

"It is the United States that infringed upon China's sovereignty, not China violating the sovereignty of the United States. It is the United States who connived at and supported 'Taiwan independence' separatist activities, not China conniving at and supporting separatist activities in the United States," Wang added.

'Gangster logic'

On Wednesday, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the United States was going down the path of obscuring, hollowing out and distorting the one-China principle, while accusing China of changing the status quo.

"The United States carries out over a hundred military drills in China's adjacent waters every year, but accuses China of overacting," Wang insisted. "Neither China nor the international community will accept such a gangster logic."

If the United States truly hopes to abide by international law and uphold national sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries as it claims to, it should return to the one-China principle, Wang noted.

Wang urged the United States to refrain from reckless moves and stop attempting to use Taiwan to contain China and do right things and take concrete steps to facilitate the sound development of China-US ties and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

The Chinese government blames the escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait and across the Asia Pacific region on US policy. Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that America's foreign policy towards China in recent years caused Beijing "serious difficulties" in their mutual relations, with clashes on issues like trade, pandemics, and regional interference.

Xi said that despite all difficulties created by the US, Beijing  will not allow a foreign force to bully and oppress it, warning that anyone who tries to do so will “be badly battered by the Chinese nation’s perseverance.”

Xi vows China will never be bullied as country marks party centenary

China’s President Xi Jinping says his country will no longer allow any foreign forces to bully and oppress it, warning that anyone who tries to do so will “be badly battered by the Chinese nation’s perseverance.”

Xi said the “era of China being bullied is gone forever,” as he stood at the Gate of Heavenly Peace above a portrait of Mao Zedong, adding that, “No one should underestimate the Chinese nation’s will and power to fight against foreign power.”

“We will not accept sanctimonious preaching from those who feel they have the right to lecture us,” he said. “We have never bullied, oppressed, or subjugated the people of any other country, and we never will.”

“By the same token, we will never allow anyone to bully, oppress, or subjugate [China]. Anyone who tries will find them on a collision course with a steel wall forged by 1.4 billion people.”

Xi further hailed the ruling party’s successes since its founding in 1921, saying it had lifted China out of poverty and restored national pride.

“We eliminated the exploitative feudal system that had persisted in China for thousands of years and established socialism,” he said.

“Only socialism could save China and only socialism with Chinese characteristics could develop China,” he added.

China’s Xi urges ruling party members to advance toward 2nd centenary goal

China’s President Xi Jinping calls on the Chinese Communist Party members to advance toward the second centenary goal of the country as the nation prepares to commemorate the ruling party’s 100th founding anniversary.

Xi further said the party had brought about “national rejuvenation” by lifting tens of millions from poverty and “altered the landscape of world development.”

The “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical course,” he said, and pledged to continue to build a “world-class” military to defend national interests.

The Chinese president also warned that any attempt to separate the ruling party and the people was “bound to fail,” and said the party had achieved its goal of building a “moderately prosperous society in all respects.”

Read more:

• Pelosi says US cannot allow China to isolate Taiwan, rants against Chinese leader
• Taiwan rejects China’s ‘one country, two systems’ model, holds another drill

Reunification of Chinese Taipei 'unshakeable commitment'

Elsewhere in his remarks, Xi reiterated longstanding pledges to “restore” Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), stressing that the reunification of the self-ruled island with the mainland remained an “unshakeable commitment.”

“No one should underestimate the resolve, the will and ability of the Chinese people to define their national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

China has pursued reunification with Chinese Taipei ever since the island broke away from the mainland during the civil war.

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