Chinese envoy reiterates China's will to safeguard sovereignty

A Chinese ambassador to the United Nations on Friday reiterated that China is resolute to safeguard national sovereignty and called on the international community to build a balanced global and regional security architecture.

"China has always respected the sovereignty of other countries and certainly hopes that its own sovereignty be respected by other countries," said Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, during a Security Council briefing on Ukraine.

"China is resolute and firm as rock in its will to safeguard national sovereignty. No one should underestimate the determination and ability of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people to defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. I hope the country concerned will see this clearly and not play with fire," he stressed.

Geng's remarks came as tensions between China and the US have risen recently amid reports that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was considering a visit to Taiwan. China says the visit would be a violation of the US' commitment to not developing official exchanges with the island, which is an integral part of China.

China firmly opposes separatist moves toward "Taiwan independence" and interference by external forces, and never allows any room for "Taiwan independence" forces in whatever form, President Xi Jinping told US President Joe Biden in their phone call on Thursday.

During the briefing, Geng said the Ukraine crisis shows the importance of upholding the UN Charter, "with words matching with deeds, instead of saying one thing while doing another, not to mention double standards or selective application."

He said "while some country has repeatedly emphasized the principle of sovereignty over the issue of Ukraine, it has incessantly challenged the sovereignty of China over Taiwan and even deliberately created tensions in the Taiwan Strait. This is a disregard and an infringement of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter."

The envoy emphasized that "only by attaching importance to the security of others and safeguarding the security of everyone, can our own security be truly realized".

"All countries should uphold a common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security concept, attach importance to each other's legitimate security concerns, build a balanced, effective, and sustainable global and regional security architecture, and jointly safeguard world peace," he said

"Putting one's own security above that of others, attempting to strengthen military blocs, establishing absolute superiority, and even shaping the surrounding environment of other countries according to their own standards will only lead to conflict and confrontation, divide the international community, and make themselves less secure," Geng added.

Geng said at a time when the international community is in dire need of unity and cooperation to overcome the difficulties together, "it is extremely irresponsible and dangerous to cling to the Cold War mentality and bloc politics, to promote decoupling, to erect barriers, to politicize, instrumentalize and weaponize economic and trade exchanges to coerce other countries to take sides, and to deliberately create division and confrontation".

He called on the international community to be highly alert to this counter current and resist it together. "We must not let the crisis of Ukraine kick off a new Cold War. We must not repeat the mistakes of history. We must not let humanity experience once again the unbearable scourge of war," he said.

minluzhang@chinadailyusa.com