Taiwan is a ‘wanderer’ and will eventually ‘come home’, says China

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi criticised the US and other nations for backing Taiwan over Beijing

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has criticised the US and other countries for their stance on Taiwan (AP)

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has called Taiwan a “wanderer” that will eventually come home and seek its unification amid growing tensions over the self-governing island.

Mr Wang said Taiwan was not a chess piece to be played with - an indirect jibe at the US, which has backed the democratic Taipei in its struggle against Chinese influence.

“Taiwan is a wanderer who will eventually return home, not a pawn to be used. China must be reunified and will surely be reunified,” Mr Wang said in his speech in Beijing on Monday at a symposium on international situation and China’s diplomacy, Xinhua news agency reported .

The foreign minister blamed the US and other countries for using Taiwan to exude control over Beijing in his speech and said that this was the cause behind prevailing tensions as the province attempted to “rely on the US for independence”.

“It is these perverse actions that have changed the status quo and undermined the peace in the Taiwan Strait, violating the consensus of the international community and the basic norms of international relations,” Mr Wang added.

China had resorted to “forceful countermeasures” to “shock the arrogance” of those who seek Taiwan’s formal independence, said the foreign minister, who has previously served as the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.

Tensions have remained high since China’s rapid militarisation around Taiwan and US president Joe Biden’s subsequent promise last month to help Taipei in the event of an attack from Beijing.

China asserted its territorial dominance over Taiwan indirectly for the second time in recent week after it has resumed diplomatic ties with Nicaragua, which reiterated Beijing’s stance of the island nation being an “inalienable part of the Chinese territory”.

This had reduced Taipei’s already declining pool of international allies, bringing the total down to 14 countries that officially recognise Taiwan as independent from China.

The international discourse on this has angered China, especially from its adversary the United States, which has been Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier even in the absence of a formal tie-up.

Taiwan has maintained that only its people have the right to decide their future and that they will not submit to external threats.