China and Russia Headline Another Day at the UN’s High-Level Debate

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On September 24th, the next-to-last day of the world leaders’ annual gathering at United Nations headquarters in New York, the headline speakers addressing the General Assembly were the foreign ministers of China and Russia. Foreign Ministers Wang Yi of China and Sergey Lavrov of Russia excused their autocratic regimes’ aggressive behavior and condemned anyone who would try to meddle in what they consider to be their own internal affairs. Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, discussed China’s reunification plans for Taiwan at some length. “China will continue to endeavor to achieve peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and greatest efforts,” he said. “To realize this goal, we must combat ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities with the firmest resolve and take the most forceful steps to repulse interference by external groups.” This was a veiled warning to the United States to butt out of what the Chinese regime considers to be a matter vital to protecting its territorial integrity and national sovereignty.