[Central News Agency] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov delivered a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York today, harshly criticizing Washington and accusing the United States of "playing with fire" on the Taiwan issue.

Reuters reported that Lavrov told the UN General Assembly that the United States was trying to "conquer" Asia and criticized Washington for forming a "closed" bloc of states in the Indo-Pacific region.

Please read on...

"They are playing with fire around Taiwan. On top of that, they have also pledged military support to Taiwan," he noted.

After U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in early August despite warnings from Beijing, China held live-fire military exercises around Taiwan for several days, raising tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

U.S. President Biden has since publicly stated that the U.S. will send troops to defend Taiwan when China invades Taiwan by force, which is considered to break the decades-old "strategic ambiguous" strategy of the U.S. side not declaring beforehand whether to intervene in conflicts in the Taiwan Strait.

On the Taiwan issue, Russian President Vladimir Putin has always clearly supported China.

Putin reiterated last week that "we intend to firmly support the 'one China' principle, and we also condemn the provocative actions of the United States and its affiliates in the Taiwan Strait."

In his speech, Lavrov also accused Washington of trying to "turn the whole world into its own backyard" through sanctions.

He denounced the actions of the United States as "a pure and complete dictatorship, or an attempt to implement a dictatorship".

1110925