Wed, Jun 26, 2024 page1

• US blasts China over threats to Taiwan

  ESCALATING TENSIONS: The US called for restraint and meaningful dialogue after Beijing threatened Taiwanese independence advocates with the death sentence

  • By Chen Yun and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA
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  The US on Monday condemned China’s “escalatory and destabilizing language and actions” toward Taiwan after Beijing last week announced new guidelines to punish supporters of Taiwanese independence.

  Asked about the guidelines, which included the death sentence for “diehard” independence advocates, US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said: “We strongly condemn the escalatory and destabilizing language and actions from PRC [People’s Republic of China] officials.”

  “We continue to urge restraint and no unilateral change to the status quo,” he said at the press briefing.

  

  President William Lai, second right, shakes hands with American Institute in Taiwan Deputy Director Jeremy Cornforth as members of a delegation from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission visited the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  The US urges China to “engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan,” Miller said, adding that “threats and legal warfare will not achieve peaceful resolution to cross-strait differences.”

  Under the guidelines, courts in China would be allowed to try “Taiwan independence separatists” in absentia.

  Diehard advocates of Taiwanese independence who are convicted of inciting secession or committing other serious crimes may be sentenced to death, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

  The guidelines, which detail “the criminal nature of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist acts, their criminal liabilities and the procedure to impose penalties,” can be regarded as “a refinement and supplement” to China’s 2005 “Anti-Secession” Law, Xinhua said.

  In Taipei, President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called on the international community not to let Beijing draw red lines wherever and whenever it pleases.

  Taiwan will continue to handle cross-strait relations responsibly and uphold the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region, Lai said at a meeting with a visiting delegation from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

  The commission was created by the US Congress in 2000 to present annual reports on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the US and China, and to provide recommendations for legislative and administrative actions.

  The US Congress has acted to strengthen US-Taiwan ties, Lai said, citing the Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental Appropriations Act passed in April as an example.

  Strengthening Taiwan’s security is strengthening regional security, Lai said, adding that his administration would continue to improve the resilience of Taiwan’s self-defense to face any possible challenges.

  Lai also thanked the delegation for sending a strong message that the US and Taiwan stand together.

  “We are here to learn today ... to learn how we can deepen [the bilateral] relationship” and “support you and your effort ... as you take on a more aggressive China,” commission chairperson Robin Cleveland said.

  “I don’t think China is just aggressive in this region, it’s globally,” Cleveland said, underlining the need to “consider the broader context of how China is behaving in the world.”

  The delegation also met yesterday with National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮).

  Wu urged the commission to exercise its influence to encourage the US and other like-minded countries to condemn Beijing and its illegal warfare tactics, as well as its efforts to undermine regional and global order with its internal laws.

  China has been weaponizing its domestic laws as a means to expand authoritarianism, Wu said, citing the recent passage of China Coast Guard Regulation No. 3, and the guidelines passed on Friday last week as examples that would put Taiwanese and international friends of Taiwan at risk of arrest in China.

  Regulation No. 3, which took effect on June 15, authorizes the China Coast Guard to detain foreign vessels and people in “waters under China’s jurisdiction” for up to 60 days.

  China has no authority to punish Taiwanese nor the power to litigate over other jurisdictions, Wu said.
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