China has warned Taiwan again through the US not to hold a referendum to seek independence, saying it would trigger a crisis in cross-Strait ties, Taiwanese news reports said yesterday.
Two Chinese envoys made the warning when they met US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in Washington DC on Monday, Taiwanese radio and newspapers said, quoting US State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker as saying on Friday.
The two enjoys, Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and Zhou Mingwei (周明偉), director and deputy director of the Chinese State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, told Armitage that Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) insistence on holding a referendum was a gradual form of seeking independence for Taiwan.
"By doing that, Taiwan will cross the red line of China's tolerance and will cause regional tension. China will not sit idle," Chen and Zhou told Armitage.
Armitage was expected to pass on China's warning to a Taiwanese delegation led by Presidential Secretary General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) yesterday, Taiwanese press said.
This is the second time in two month Chinese officials have warned Taiwan through the US not to hold a referendum on Taiwan's future.
On June 1, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), while attending the G8 summit in Evian, France, told US President George W. Bush that China would not sit idle if Taiwan held a referendum to decide its future.
President Chen plans to hold a referendum on nuclear power and WHO membership in March, the same month Taiwan is scheduled to hold its presidential election. Chen has said he will seek a second four-year term in next year's election.
Meanwhile, Chiou and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) gave separate briefings in Washington on Friday to researchers from two US think tanks on Taiwan's proposed referendum.
Although the two briefings at the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, respectively, were closed to the press, some of the US experts on Chinese affairs said afterward the briefings were helpful in easing their misgivings on the referendum issue.
An anonymous source said the Taiwan delegation explained the reasons behind wanting to hold a referendum as well as fielded questions from US experts regarding the referendum process, how the issues were chosen, how the questions on the ballot will be worded, and what effects the referendum will have.
The source said the US experts were not opposed to the idea of a referendum in Taiwan but were concerned about its possible political impact on Washington-Beijing-Taipei relations. They informed Chiou that Washington would not like to see any crisis straining ties at this time and that a referendum in Taiwan could possibly trigger such a crisis.
Also see story:
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
RSS