“Reunification” with China is “not an option” for Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, after Chinese state media reported that the issue was brought up in a telephone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump.
“We have noted this significant international exchange, but we must reiterate that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a fully sovereign and independent country,” Cho said at the legislature when reporters asked him about the issue.
“The 23 million people of Taiwan do not have a ‘reunification’ option. This is very clear. Taiwan is the world’s Taiwan,” Cho said.
Photo: Richard Chung, Reuters
Trump and Xi spoke over the telephone on Monday to discuss various issues.
In a social media post, Trump made no mention of Taiwan, saying instead that he and Xi discussed Ukraine, fentanyl, a deal on agricultural products, and forthcoming bilateral visits by himself and Xi.
However, Xinhua reported that Xi told Trump that “Taiwan’s reunification with China” is an important component to the post-World War II international order, and Trump replied that the US acknowledged Taiwan’s importance to China.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Cho said Taiwan is critically important to the international community in terms of regional security, and technological and economic development, and that maintaining the “status quo” is therefore something on which the world is collectively focused.
“China cannot undermine this ‘status quo’ in any way,” he said, adding that this is why Taiwan has been strengthening its defense capabilities and standing with like-minded democratic nations.
Separately, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said that Trump’s silence on the issue signaled that Taiwan was not being treated as a bargaining chip in broader US-China talks.
“It is the best result, that we are not mentioned, meaning we are not part of the deal,” he said by telephone.
“We understand that Taiwan is China’s core interest, but it is also a core interest for Japan, the US and Europe,” Wu said, adding that Taipei maintains “frequent and intensive communication with the US.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that China is deliberately misinterpreting World War II documents in an attempt to coerce Taiwan.
Taiwan is a sovereign and independent state that is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China, the ministry said.
Communication channels between the US and Taiwan remain smooth, although relevant details would not be made public, ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) told a news conference in Taipei.
The American Institute in Taiwan has publicly reaffirmed the US’ position on Taiwan and said that Beijing is willfully misinterpreting wartime documents, he said.
Beijing’s narrative is entirely false, and aims to isolate Taiwan internationally and limit other nations’ sovereign choice to interact with Taiwan, he added.
China is driven by authoritarian expansionism and has repeatedly sought to intimidate Taiwan, Japan and other neighboring nations in violation of the UN Charter’s prohibition of threats or use of force in international relations, the ministry said.
None of the World War II documents — including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Declaration and the San Francisco Peace Treaty — nor subsequent UN resolutions determine Taiwan’s political status, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said.
As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan would continue working with like-minded partners to maintain the cross-strait “status quo,” and safeguard regional peace, stability and prosperity, she said.
Additional reporting by Hollie Younger
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