China has jumped into the flap caused by a column on Taiwan that was printed last month in the Financial Times, and is now officially talking about “early” unification.
“Let me outline China’s position on this major issue of principle,” says Dai Qingli, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the UK.
In the original column, printed last month, Financial Times Asia editor David Pilling argued that the US should not sacrifice Taiwan and throw it as a “bone” to what he described as “the Chinese dog.”
Pilling said that Taiwan was a “jewel” and that the vast majority of Taiwanese remain implacably against unification.
As reported in the Taipei Times yesterday, the column caused William Bader, a former chief of staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to write to the London newspaper charging that the administration of US President Barack Obama had “shown little to no knowledge or real interest” in the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).
Bader urged the White House to read and follow the TRA which commits the US to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons.
That letter and the column that provoked it, have generated enormous interest amongst Taiwanese -Americans worried that US -support for Taiwan could be lagging.
Now Dai has joined the fray.
In a letter given almost as much prominence as Bader’s letter, Dai said: “There is only one China in the world. Both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China. China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are indivisible. In recent years, cross-strait relations have been improving.”
“People-to-people exchanges are thriving. Blood is thicker than water. Taiwan is not a ‘bone’ which can be thrown at will by foreign countries. The Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have the wisdom and capability to achieve the early reunification of China, she wrote.”
“The Taiwan issue concerns the dignity of the 1.3 billion Chinese people. We firmly oppose any interference in the Taiwan issue by any country or any person. China has consistently opposed US arms sales to Taiwan. In the three China-US Joint Communiques, the US acknowledged that there is but one China and undertook to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan, leading over time to final resolution,” she added.
China experts in Washington said that the letter appeared to be written is such a way as to suggest that it had actually been composed in Beijing and that it was in effect a message directed at the White House.
“China will continue to work with the US to handle Taiwan--related issues properly on the basis of one China and the three communiques to safeguard overall China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, the letter added.
“Unfortunately, whenever cross-strait relations improve, there are people who try to stir up confrontation, and even clamor for continued arms sales by the US to Taiwan,” she wrote.
“This is very harmful to peace, stability and development across the Taiwan Strait and in the region. We trust that FT (Financial Times) readers will not be misled by these acts which go against the trend of the times,” she wrote.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS