China is solely responsible for Taiwan's severance of diplomatic ties with Chad, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
"We are calling on the public to stop harboring any illusion toward the Chinese government and to voice their strongest condemnation of Beijing's barbaric behavior," council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said.
Wu made the remark after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced late on Saturday that the nation had decided to cut diplomatic relations with Chad because the African nation had chosen to recognize China.
Wu said yesterday that China deliberately picked a time when Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) was supposed to depart for the African country to attend Chadian President Idriss Deby's inauguration to force Chad to switch diplomatic recognition.
"Its purpose is to humiliate the Taiwanese government and its people," Wu said. "The administration and people of Taiwan feel exasperated and ashamed of China's behavior. [China] must be held fully responsible for all possible consequences that this incident may have on cross-strait relations."
This was the second time Su was forced to cancel his visit to a diplomatic ally because of Chinese repression.
The premier planned to visit Haiti in May as President Chen Shui-bian's (
Su was forced to call it off weeks before the departure because China took advantage of its UN seat to bully Haiti, threatening Preval that the international organization would withdraw its forces if Su attended the inauguration.
Wu criticized China for adopting a two-handed strategy toward Taiwan: offering friendship on the one hand and increasing its military presence and hindering Taiwan's diplomatic space on the other.
Wu emphasized that Taiwan is an independent, sovereign state and has never been a subordinate of China.
"From the viewpoint of international law, Taiwan enjoys an independent status and its sovereignty belongs to the 23 million people of Taiwan," Wu said. "That is an indisputable fact arising from public consensus."
Wu called on the international community to denounce China's flagrant suppression of Taiwan and its bullying tactics.
With the Chinese government's continuous efforts to humiliate Taiwan on the diplomatic front, Wu said that "it has made us realize that China's claims of cross-straits relations improving since the enactment of its `Anti-Secession' Law are all naked lies," he said.
Wu added that China has shown its true colors and urged the public and all political parties to cast aside partisan differences and work in concert to safeguard the nation's diplomatic interests and dignity.
When asked about the planned visit of the head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), Wu said that his council would not allow the Chinese official to visit Taiwan unless he's coming to apologize to the people of Taiwan.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has announced that it was planning to invite Chen Yunlin to its "cross-strait agricultural cooperation" forum in October in Taipei, pending the council's approval.
Vice President Annette Lu (
Describing China's move as a "deliberate humiliation" to the nation, Presidential Office Secretary-General Mark Chen (
Speaking at his residence late last night, Su acknowledged the efforts the foreign ministry had made to deal with the diplomatic crisis between Taiwan and Chad.
Su said the severing of diplomatic ties between the two countries was not a personal matter.
The premier also urged the public not to have any illusions about China's intentions.
additional reporting by Flora Wang
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique