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Yuanyue Dang

Beijing has protested to Washington over US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s “cold war” attacks on mainland China, warning it to stop crossing lines on Taiwan.
“Rubio’s remarks were full of a cold war mentality and spread lies and misinformation,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Monday.
“China is strongly dissatisfied with them and resolutely opposes them. We have made a solemn representation to the US side.”
Lin was referring to comments Rubio made in an interview with Catherine Herridge Reports, an independent news website, on February 20 and on a Fox News programme six days later.
Asked whether the United States would defend Taiwan if it was attacked by Beijing, Rubio told Herridge: “We don’t want to see a conflict. But we have made very clear through years and years of our policies – the Six Assurances, the Taiwan Relations Act – that we are against any sort of change in status by force or by threat or by coercion, and that remains our policy.”
Then on Wednesday he told Fox News that the best way to prevent a possible attack from Beijing was to have “military capability” for the US.
Lin said the attempt by the island’s ruling party to seek independence with US support was a “fundamental change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait”.
“The Taiwan issue is the most important, most sensitive and most explosive issue in US-China relations. If the US side does not want to trigger a conflict, it should stop crossing the line on the Taiwan issue,” he said.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington opposes any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and has pledged to supply it with weapons.


In the interview with Herridge, Rubio also said he believed the virus that causes Covid-19 leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, the city in central China where the disease was first detected.
“I would say – and I’ve long believed this and I’ve said this irrespective – just common sense tells you that the chances that this was a – and I say an accident,” Rubio said.
But Lin countered on Monday that a lab leak was highly unlikely.
“The search for the origin should be based on a global perspective and conducted in several countries and places, especially the US. The US should immediately stop planting false evidence against China and shifting the blame,” Lin said.
The ministry’s spokesman also took aim at Rubio’s suggestion that extra US tariffs on Chinese goods were meant to address the “unfairness” caused by China’s involvement in the US economy.
Lin said that existing and threatened tariffs on Chinese goods were “damaging to the US’ own economic interests and international credibility”.
Rubio’s take on Taiwan differs from that of Trump, who declined last Wednesday to say whether his administration would move to defend Taiwan from an attack.
“I don’t comment because I don’t ever want to put myself in that position,” said Trump, who has touted his “great relationship” with President Xi Jinping.
The US president has also accused Taiwan’s chip industry of “stealing” US chip business and urged the self-ruled island to significantly increase its defence budget to 10 per cent of its GDP.


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News

China

Diplomacy

Chinese foreign ministry also objects to Rubio’s revival of the Covid-19 lab leak origin theory


Chinese foreign ministry also objects to Rubio’s revival of the Covid-19 lab leak origin theory.
