Asked to respond to the provocative remarks made today by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the East Asia Summit in Jakarta (see separate slug), a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry charged that the words were “groundless and inconsistent with facts. We are firmly against it and will not accept it. We have made serious démarches to the US.”
Repudiating Harris’s remarks about Taiwan and the South and East China Seas, the spokesperson charged that a “certain non-regional country has sought to stir up trouble, incite confrontation and jeopardize regional peace and stability in the South China Sea. China has always opposed that. China and ASEAN countries are making active efforts to advance the consultations on a code of conduct in the South China Sea. Countries outside the region need to respect the efforts made by regional countries to develop rules and uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
The debate at the summit, the spokesperson asserted, “shows that the overwhelming majority of countries believe in strengthening cooperation through constructive dialogue and friendly consultation to jointly foster a regional epicentrum of growth. The US deliberately deviated from the theme of the meeting to sour the atmosphere for cooperation. This runs counter to the wish of the people in the region. It reveals the actual role of the U.S. as a disruptor and saboteur of East Asian cooperation and regional stability. No one echoed the U.S.’s false accusations at the summit anyway. What the US has done will only make itself look bad and backfire on itself.”
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/202309/t20230907_11139863.html
