Beijing (AFP) – China has threatened “determined countermeasures” over a planned meeting between Taiwan’s president and the speaker of the US House of Representatives on the upcoming holiday in Los Angeles. allies as he sent army fighter jets flying to the island almost daily.
Earlier this month, Honduras established diplomatic relations with China, leaving Taiwan with thirteen countries that recognize it as a sovereign state.
President Tsai Ing-wen presented the event as a chance to showcase Taiwan’s commitment to democratic values on the world stage, as she departed Taiwan on Wednesday afternoon to begin her 10-day tour of the Americas.
“I need to tell everyone that democratic Taiwan will resolutely safeguard the values of freedom and democracy, and will remain a smart force in the world, following a cycle of intelligence, strengthening the resilience of democracy in the world,” he said. He told reporters before boarding the plane. “External tension will not obstruct our interaction with the world. “
Tsai is scheduled to transit via New York on March 30 before heading to Guatemala and Belize. On April 5, he is expected to make a stop in Los Angeles on his way back to Taiwan, when the meeting with the speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives is scheduled to take place. U. S. Secretary of State Kevin McCarthy is even though not confirmed.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the spokesman for the U. S. National Security Council said he was asked to say so. U. S. Secretary of State John Kirby said there were no plans for Biden administration officials to meet with Tsai during her tenure in the U. S. They are “private” and “unofficial” stopovers.
Although unofficial, layovers in the United States will be the most viewed portions of Tsai’s trip.
At a news conference Wednesday, Taiwan Cabinet Affairs Office spokesman Zhu Fenglian denounced Tsai’s stopover to her diplomatic allies in Central America and demanded that no U. S. officials meet with her.
“We firmly oppose and will take determined countermeasures,” Zhu said. The United States deserves to “refrain from organizing transit visits through Tsai Ing-wen and even contacts with U. S. officials, and take concrete steps to fulfill its solemn commitment not to promote Taiwan’s independence. “. “
“If he comes into contact with US President McCarthy, it will be a provocation that seriously violates the one-China principle, undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and destroys peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Fenglian warned.
Speaking later Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said China “will closely adhere to progress and resolutely adhere to national sovereignty and territorial integrity. “
“The United States avoids pretending to establish safeguards for China-U. S. relations while carrying out harmful activities that undermine the political foundation of bilateral ties,” Mao told reporters at a daily news briefing.
Transit visits to the United States through Taiwanese presidents have been a regime over the years, senior U. S. officials in Washington and Beijing have told their Chinese counterparts. On those unofficial visits in recent years, Tsai met with members of Congress and Taiwanese-American civic groups. , and has been presented by the president of the American Institute of Taiwan, the nonprofit organization run by the U. S. government. The U. S. government has unofficial relations with Taiwan.
Tsai transited through the U. S. It was used in the U. S. six times between 2016 and 2019 before curbing overseas with the coronavirus pandemic. In reaction to those visits, China has rhetorically opposed the US. U. S. and Taiwan.
However, the planned meeting with McCarthy has raised fears of a backlash amid increased friction between Beijing and Washington over the US. for Taiwan, industry and human rights.
Earlier this month, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang issued a stern warning to the United States, saying that if Washington changed its stance toward China, “conflict and confrontation” were inevitable.
CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell reported that according to the CIA’s latest intelligence assessment, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered his People’s Liberation Army to prepare to retake the island by force, if necessary, until 2027.
After then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan in 2022, Beijing introduced missiles over the region, deployed warships to the middle line of the Taiwan Strait and conducted military exercises as part of a simulated blockade of the island. Beijing also suspended climate talks with the United States and limited military-to-military communications with the Pentagon.
McCarthy, R-Calif. , said he would meet with Tsai when she is in the U. S. and did not rule out the option of traveling to Taiwan as a sign of support.
Beijing sees official U. S. contact The U. S. government is using Taiwan as a stimulus to make the island’s decades-old de facto independence permanent, a step U. S. leaders say they do not support. Under the “One China” policy, the United States recognizes Beijing’s view that it has sovereignty over Taiwan, but considers Taiwan’s prestige unresolved. Taipei is a vital spouse for Washington in the Indo-Pacific.
U. S. officials are increasingly involved in what China is seeking to achieve its long-standing purpose of bringing Taiwan under its strength if necessary. Independence Democratic Progressive Party to make separation permanent and thwart China’s rise as a world power.
The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, which governs U. S. relations with the island, does not require Washington to interfere militarily in the event of a Chinese invasion, but sets out a U. S. policy so that Taiwan has the resources to protect itself and prevent any unilateral replacement. of prestige through Beijing.
Tensions escalated earlier this year when President Joe Biden ordered the downing of a Chinese spy balloon after crossing the U. S. mainland. Biden’s management also said U. S. intelligence findings were not enough. Beijing has already done so.
China, however, has provided Russia with an economic lifeline and political support, and President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in Moscow earlier this month. It is the first face-to-face meeting between the allies since Russia introduced its invasion of Ukraine. more than a year ago.
Biden’s administration has postponed a plan to Beijing through Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the wake of the balloon controversy, but has signaled that he would like to get that plan back on track.
The Foreign Ministry’s Mao said the blame for the tensions lay squarely with Washington for strengthening relations with Tsai. Beijing has frozen almost all contacts with Tsai’s management since some time after her election to the first of her two terms in 2016.
“It’s that China is exaggerating. It’s that the U. S. has continued to embolden Taiwan’s independence forces, which is brazen in nature,” he said.
Tsai’s state visits coincide with a 12-day visit to China through her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou of the pro-unification Nationalist Party, in an appeal to the electorate whose descendants arrived with Chiang Kai-shek’s defeated forces in 1949.
Ma visited sites in the former nationalist capital of Nanjing and pressed ancient and cultural ties between the sides, while avoiding the sensitive political issues of China’s determination to Taiwan’s foreign presence and its refusal to recognize its government.
Tsai is seeking a third term and her party is expected to nominate Vice President Lai Ching-te to run for president in January.