A major crisis between US and China erupted on Tuesday as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in the breakaway province of Taiwan, ignoring multiple warnings from Beijing.
Lavrov lambasted Washington for its actions regarding Taiwan, noting that the US wants to demonstrate "impunity", proving to the world it can get away with anything.
"I have no doubts that this reflects the very line [of the US] that we are talking about in relation to the Ukrainian situation — this is the desire to prove to everyone and all their impunity and to show their permissiveness", Lavrov told reporters.
The statement from Moscow comes after Pelosi traveled to the island to meet with its authorities, which angered China. Upon Pelosi's arrival in Taipei, Beijing launched a series of military exercises near Taiwan and restricted navigation in the South China Sea.
Beijing noted that the visit undermines bilateral relations and violates the One-China policy, which stipulates that Taiwan is not an independent nation, but a part of China.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday after Pelosi's surprising visit to the island that Washington's attempts to use Taiwan to contain China are inevitably doomed to failure.
According to Wang, the US "should not fantasize about playing geopolitical games," with its "provocations" serving only to cause more tensions in the Asia-Pacific region while acting against the common trend is "very dangerous and stupid."
ZZ/
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