The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart.
The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call.
“We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as the status quo of the Taiwan Strait,” the MOFA said.
Photo: AFP
Building on the solid US-Taiwan friendship, Taiwan looks forward to strengthening cooperation with the administration of US President Donald Trump, continuing to demonstrate Taiwan’s self-defense determination, and enhancing its defensive capabilities and resilience through US arms sales, military reform and reinforcing whole-of-society resilience, it said.
Taiwan also looks forward to deepening its security and economic and trade partnership with the US, and together promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and Indo-Pacific region, it said.
Rubio on Friday clashed with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) over Taiwan.
Rubio, a longtime China hawk, spoke with Wang for the first time by telephone at the end of his first week in office, which he began by forming a united front with US partners in the region.
In the telephone call, Rubio told Wang that the second Trump administration would pursue a relationship with China “that advances US interests and puts the American people first,” US Department of State spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
“The secretary also stressed the United States’ commitment to our allies in the region and serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan and in the South China Sea,” she said.
Wang in turn cautioned Rubio over Taiwan.
“We will never allow Taiwan to be separated from China,” Wang told Rubio, adding that Washington “must not betray its promise” to recognize only “one China,” a readout by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Wang voiced hope to Rubio that the former US senator would “play a constructive role for the future of the Chinese and American people, and for world peace and stability,” it said.
In their call, Wang told Rubio that the world’s top two economies should work to find “the right way to get along in the new era” — presumably referring to Trump’s return to the US presidency.
While Beijing had “no intention of surpassing or replacing anyone,” it maintained its “legitimate right to development,” he said.
In his Senate confirmation hearing last week, Rubio vowed to ramp up support for Taiwan to achieve an “equilibrium” that would discourage China from an invasion.
Rubio suggested at the hearing that China could invade Taiwan by the end of the decade unless the US makes clear that “the costs of intervening in Taiwan are too high.”
Rubio has cast China as the top threat to the US and has accused the Asian power — whose economy has skyrocketed in the past few decades — of “cheating” its way toward superpower status.
Rubio also spoke by telephone with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son. Rubio discussed with Bui, who is also minister of foreign affairs, China’s “aggressive behavior in the South China Sea,” the US State Department said.
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