The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday criticized Beijing’s embassy in Seoul over “despicable” comments protesting a visit of a delegation to Taiwan last week led by South Korean National Assembly Deputy Speaker Chung Woo-taik.
In a post on WeChat, an embassy spokesperson said that the lawmakers’ visit contravenes the “one China” principle and harms the development of friendly relations between China and South Korea.
When referring to the visit, the spokesperson used the derogatory term cuan fang (竄訪), which equates the lawmakers to rats “scurrying” around. Beijing had used the term before when discussing then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last year.
Photo from South Korean lawmaker Lee Dal-gon’s Facebook page
The spokesperson also said “Taiwan independence secessionist forces” and meddling by foreign forces were threatening stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan “solemnly censures” the Chinese ambassador in South Korea, who made comments that “seriously distorted facts and infringed on the dignity of South Korea and our country’s sovereignty,” the ministry said in a statement.
“China’s overturning of right and wrong, its uncouth language and its wolf warrior behavior can only be described as despicable,” the statement said.
Taipei’s reception of foreign guests, including major political figures and lawmakers, is “an exercise of national sovereignty and a normal activity of democracies,” it said.
The international community agrees that Taiwan and China are non-subordinate, sovereign nations, and that the People’s Republic of China has never governed Taiwan, the ministry said.
Taiwan and South Korea are democratic, sovereign countries, and Seoul has the right to conduct relations with any foreign nation it wishes, including Taiwan, it added.
The statement said that Beijing’s complaints are baseless, as the South Korea-Taiwan Friendship Association had visited the nation every year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and thanked the visiting lawmakers for their significant contributions to bilateral relations.
Taiwan and South Korea share the universal values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, and have close ties in matters of substance including trade and mutual visits, it said.
The statement also said that Seoul declared the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait in 2020, and has often repeated that message since, including in last month’s publication of its strategic document for the Indo-Pacific region.
“Again, the Chinese government did not heed facts and acted in bad faith in its futile attempt to impede Taiwan’s conduct of normal relations with the rest of the world,” it said, calling for democratic countries to support Taiwan.
“China should stop its presumptuous behavior toward South Korea’s parliamentarian diplomacy,” South Korean lawmaker Cho Kyoung-tae said.
Beijing’s actions were “not the behavior of a normal country,” the Korea Times cited him as saying. “Interference into domestic affairs should not occur.”
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told a ribbon-cutting ceremony in New Taipei City that Beijing’s interference in Taiwan’s affairs makes China “a bad neighbor, always meddling and trying to start arguments.”
“The world judges China on its unneighborly behavior,” he added.
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT: A new committee would investigate a backlog of US weapons sales to Taiwan, said its chairman, US Representative Mike Gallagher The US should formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and end its outdated and counterproductive “one China” policy, US Representative Tom Tiffany and 18 other US lawmakers wrote in a petition. “It is time to change the status quo and recognize the reality denied by the US government for decades: Taiwan is an independent nation,” Tiffany told the Epoch Times. “As our long-standing and valued partner, correctly acknowledging their independence from communist China is long overdue.” The resolution also asks the administration of US President Joe Biden to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to negotiate a bilateral free-trade
The Pentagon is preparing for US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Taiwan later this year, Punchbowl News reported on Monday, citing an official directly involved in the talks. US administration officials anticipate McCarthy would visit Taiwan some time in the spring, the report said. McCarthy had previously pledged to visit Taiwan if he became House speaker. He was elected speaker earlier this month. He had also said that he would have liked to join then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s delegation when she visited Taiwan in August last year. Pelosi’s 19-hour visit to Taipei marked the first time in 25 years
Taiwan’s Chou Chieh-yu (周婕妤) was crowned the Kamui WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Champion after shutting out British pool titan Allison Fisher 9-0 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the organizers said on Sunday. Following the championship win at Harrah’s Resort and Casino Atlantic City, Chou pocketed US$30,000 and became the first female competitor to hold both the 9-ball and 10-ball world titles since Briton Kelly Fisher in 2012. Chou, 36, won the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship in Austria in September last year after clinching a silver medal at last year’s World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, in July. “I’m very excited and it’s like
JOINT OPERATIONS: Participating in the IMET program, which offers professional training and education to military personnel, would boost Taiwan’s defense capabilities The US government is appropriating funding to help Taiwan participate in its International Military Education & Training (IMET) program to enhance interoperability and capabilities for joint operations of the Taiwanse and US militaries. The funding for Taiwan’s participation in the program is mentioned in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023, a US$1.7 trillion spending bill funding the US federal government for the fiscal year 2023. It covers funding for military support for Ukraine, defense spending and regions affected by natural disasters. The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that IMET is an important US