Belarus was “oblivious to the international reality” when it said in a joint statement with China that it opposed Taiwan’s participation in international organizations that require statehood, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anna Kao (高安) said yesterday.
The ministry “deeply regrets” that Minsk reiterated the position it had long held for the sake of “ingratiating itself with mainland China,” Kao said.
She said the statement revealed Minsk’s ignorance of the international reality and damaged Taiwan’s rights and interests.
As a sovereign nation that values freedom, the Republic of China (ROC) is entitled to apply for a seat in international organizations of concern to the rights and interests of its people, Kao said.
“The ministry will stick with this position without being disturbed by any comments made by an individual country with this regard,” she added.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko signed the joint statement on Sunday, the first of Xi’s three-day visit to the nation in Eastern Europe, pledging to combine strategies of development and boost comprehensive strategic partnerships.
The ministry has confirmed media reports that Minsk, in the joint statement, restated its support for the “one China” policy, including its opposition to Taiwan’s independence and to Taiwan’s admission into any international or regional organizations where statehood is a requirement.
The statement, posted on Chinese news Web sites, says that Belarus recognizes that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China, the only legitimate government representing the whole of China, and thus it would not have official contacts with Taiwan, would not sell weapons to Taiwan and would support any Chinese endeavors to realize unification.
According to the ministry, the statement was a repetition of a joint statement signed between Belarus and China in 2007 and another in 2013.
It came days after a meeting between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Xi in Beijing on Monday last week, at which Chu said that both sides of the Taiwan Strait “belong to one China” and that the so-called “1992 consensus,” a formula that centers on the “one China” principle, could be expanded to international realms.
Commenting on the latest China-Belarus joint statement, KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said it is rare for China to have its stance on Taiwan written into a diplomatic statement.
Given that Taiwan has not sought to join international organizations that require statehood for membership in recent years, it could be seen as a “warning” for Taiwan not to pursue such bids after next year’s presidential election, Chiang said.
Earlier this year, China signed joint statements with Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan during Xi’s visits to the countries, in which the countries reconfirmed their support for the “one China” principle.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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