US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan reflects Washington’s desire to prove its “impunity and demonstrate its lawlessness,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday during a press conference with its foreign minister. Myanmar Wuna Maung Luin, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. Lavrov linked Pelosi’s visit to the US response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying: “I can’t say what theirs was [the Americans’] motive, but there are no doubts that it reflects the same policy that we are talking about in relation to the situation in Ukraine.” “This is a desire to prove it to everyone [their] impunity and demonstrate their iniquity”. Lavrov said he saw no other “reason to create such an irritant literally out of nowhere, fully aware of what it means for the People’s Republic of China.” On Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Russia considered Pelosi’s visit “a clear challenge to the spirit of the United States’ aggressive policy of an all-out effort to contain the DPRK. [People’s Republic of China].” The ministry also called on Washington “to refrain from actions that undermine regional stability and international security and to recognize the new geopolitical reality in which there is no longer any room for American hegemony.” Some context: China’s refusal to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine has fueled speculation about its intentions with Taiwan, raising questions about how the world might react should it launch an attack. Elsewhere on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on China to “join the united world” and oppose Russia, in a mock speech at the Australian National University. The President discussed China when answering questions from students. He said China’s “neutrality” in the face of Russian invasion “is better” than if China announced its full support for Russia. But he said he believed “the nation, the people of China will make the wise choice.” He went on to say that “it is important that China does not help Russia.”
