China’s foreign minister compared the drive for Taiwanese independence to a charging rhinoceros that must be stopped in its tracks, and blamed the U.S. for speeding it along.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said legislation under consideration by U.S. lawmakers threatens the foundation of U.S.-China ties. He said voices advocating the independence of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, have grown because of U.S. support. He said that ties between the U.S. and China were at a "low ebb.”
"Taiwan independence is like a highly disruptive gray rhino charging toward us that must be stopped resolutely,” Wang said in a speech at the Asia Society in New York, where he was attending the annual gathering of the U.N. General Assembly. "We have always worked with the greatest sincerity and effort to pursue peaceful reunification, but we will never tolerate any activity aimed at secession.”
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