Stern warning sent to US over Taiwan

The Foreign Ministry said on Monday that China will impose sanctions on United States officials who behave egregiously and bear major responsibilities for the Taiwan question.

The move, announced by ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week announced plans to lift curbs on exchanges between US and Taiwan officials, a move that was opposed and condemned by China.

Last week, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, held a virtual talk with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen, after a planned trip to Taipei was called off.

On Thursday, the US mission to the UN released on its official website a video of remarks to students in Taiwan by Craft, in which she claimed that the US, in UN venues, supports a role for Taiwan on the global stage.

Commenting on this, Hua stressed that any attempt to challenge the one-China principle and to separate China will not be supported by UN members, and will meet a dead end.

Hua noted that as verified by the UN, no meeting was held in the General Assembly Hall on Thursday, and the UN Secretariat gave no approval to any country to hold any event in the Hall on the day.

The video was made as Craft entered the Hall and posed for the camera, abusing her right as the US Permanent Representative to the UN, Hua said.

"Such a sneaky trick serves nothing except to make herself a mockery and a laughing stock," she added.

Also at Monday's briefing, Hua lambasted Pompeo and his barrage of anti-Beijing tweets, including those on the issues of Hong Kong and Xinjiang, the country's handling of the coronavirus and China's political system.

"The top US diplomat who praises himself on lying, cheating and stealing shows again how he has followed through the lying diplomacy to the end of his term with final madness," Hua said.

Hua noted that China has used solid facts to lay bare the political virus and lies created and spread by Pompeo.

The "lying diplomacy" has not only bankrupted his own credibility, she said, but also done irreversible damage to the image and interests of the US.

The so-called legacy he bragged about is the evidence to prove his guilt in interfering in China's internal affairs and undermining China-US relations, she added.