Beijing says Washington to pay 'heavy price' if UN ambassador goes to Taiwan
(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 21, 2020 US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft speaks during a news conference to announce the Trump administration's restoration of sanctions on Iran, at the US State Department in Washington, DC as Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross(L) listens. (Photo: AFP)
- Agence France-Presse
- January 8, 2021 2:22 AM
United Nations, United States | China on Thursday threatened that the United States would pay a "heavy price" if its United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft kept plans announced by the State Department to travel to Taiwan in the coming days.
"The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong action," a statement from the Chinese mission to the UN said.
"China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for China-US relations and the two countries' cooperation in the United Nations, and stop going further on the wrong path."
China "firmly opposes" the visit and demands the US cancel its plans, the statement added, reiterating Beijing's one China policy that maintains Taiwan is only a mainland province.
The precise date of Craft's visit is not yet clear.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua had also criticized the trip earlier in the day, saying an US ambassador's presence in Taiwan would violate Chinese sovereignty.
Administration officials under President Donald Trump already visited Taiwan last year, despite opposition from Beijing, amid US-Chinese tensions over trade, security and human rights.
© Agence France-Presse
