Taiwan question most sensitive issue in ties with US: China on Pelosi visit

Beijing [China], August 2 : China on Tuesday firmly opposed US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan visit while calling the trip a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the joint communique signed between the two countries.
Pelosi's plane landed in Taiwan on the highest level US visit in more than two decades, amid a heightened security threat from China.
"On 2 August, in disregard of China's strong opposition and serious representations, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited China's Taiwan region. This is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques," Xinhua news agency quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry as saying.
Beijing said the visit gravely undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and sends a seriously wrong signal to the "separatist forces for Taiwan independence".
"The Taiwan question is the most important and most sensitive issue at the very heart of China-US relations. The Taiwan Strait is facing a new round of tensions and severe challenges, and the fundamental cause is the repeated moves by the Taiwan authorities and the United States to change the status quo," the Chinese ministry said in a statement.
Shortly after Pelosi landed in Taipei on Tuesday, she reaffirmed her country's unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan's democracy and said this trip in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy on the self-governed island.
"Our discussions with Taiwan leadership will focus on reaffirming our support for our partner and on promoting our shared interests, including advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region," she added.
Pelosi also expressed US solidarity with 23 million people of Taiwan in the face of the increasing threat from China. "Our visit is one of several Congressional delegations to Taiwan - and it in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, US-China Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances. The United States continues to oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo," she added.
Pelosi's plane landed in Taiwan amid a heightened security threat from China. Beijing has warned the US that it will "pay the price" if Pelosi visits Taiwan.
"What I can tell you is, the US will definitely have to bear responsibility and pay the price for harming China's sovereignty and security interests," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a press briefing in Beijing adding that China will take "firm and powerful" measures in response.
Before the Pelosi trip, China's military said that it would conduct drills with live ammunition off its coast at one of the narrowest points of the Taiwan Strait. A Chinese Air Force spokesperson had said the country would send fighter jets around Taiwan as a demonstration of its ability to defend its sovereignty, without offering specifics on timing.
On Monday, US National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said the US Speaker has the right to visit Taiwan and that her visit was not 'uncommon'. "If she goes it's not without precedent, it's not new," Kirby said, adding, "The Speaker has not confirmed any travel plans and it is for the Speaker to do so, and her staff."
Since the reports of the US House Speaker's visit were released last month, Beijing has been warning of the visit saying that it will act strongly and take countermeasures if the US side insists on going ahead with the visit.