China reaffirmed its claim to Taiwan on Saturday, telling international leaders that anybody who stands in the way of its ambition to reunify with the self-governing island will be “crushed by the wheels of history.”
The language was strong but not out of the ordinary for Chinese officials.
“Only when China is fully reunified can there be true peace across the Taiwan Strait,” Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said at the U.N. General Assembly. He said Beijing would “take the most forceful steps to oppose external interference.”
China vigorously asserts its claim to Taiwan, which broke away from the mainland during a civil war in 1949 and now has its government. The recent visit of Nancy Pelosi, the United States House of Representatives speaker, heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The harsh rhetoric represented China’s usual zeal for the island; the island’s claim is rarely acknowledged in large international addresses. Taiwan is a crucial issue in Chinese policy, and Wang’s presence — rather than his boss, Chinese President Xi Jinping — indicated that the speech was not necessarily essential.
“The PRC government is the sole government representing all of China,” Wang said, referring to China’s formal name, the People’s Republic of China. “The one-China principle has become a basic norm in international relations.”
China regularly applies pressure across the world on any institution — government, company, mapmaker — that even suggests Taiwan may be a distinct country. Its clout has isolated the island’s administration, albeit a few United Nations members maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei rather than Beijing.
Just a few speakers before Wang at the United Nations summit on Saturday, the prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, talked passionately about enabling Taiwan to boost its profile in international institutions such as the World Health Organization.
“How can we stand askance, in relative silence and contented inaction, in disregard of Taiwan’s legitimate right to exist in accord with the wishes and will of the Taiwanese people?” he asked.
Wang’s presence at the United Nations General Assembly in person in 2022 follows two years of faraway, pandemic-era statements by China’s top leader. Xi did not attend this year’s general assembly, which Russian President Vladimir Putin boycotted. On Wednesday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden addressed.
