China's defense ministry slams 3 U.S. senators' visit to Taiwan region

Photo taken on July 21, 2019 from Xiangshan Mountain shows the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang)

On Tuesday, Chinese defense ministry strongly condemned the visit of three U.S. senators to Taiwan region, calling it an abominable political provocation that challenges the one-China principle and aims to achieve the end goal of "containing China."

This extremely "irresponsible" and "dangerous" move is in serious violation of Resolution 2758 of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and the widely-recognized international consensus on one-China, and a severe breach of the one-China principle and the three joint communiques between China and the United States, said Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, at a press conference.

It damages the foundation of the China-U.S. relationship and cross-strait stability, and deeply hurts the essential interests of the Chinese people, including compatriots in Taiwan region, Wu said.

We urge the United States to immediately stop any form of official exchanges with Taiwan region and refrain from sending any wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" forces, Wu said.

"Those who play with fire will only burn themselves," Wu said, warning Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority for its disregard of the cross-strait peace and Chinese national interest.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) will resolutely defeat any attempt by the secessionists to separate Taiwan region from China, and safeguard national unity and territorial integrity at all costs, Wu said.