The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said that China was lying when Beijing claimed that Taiwan had paid social media users to post negative comments on China-Kiribati relations.
China has received widespread criticism after images emerged online, showing Chinese Ambassador to Kiribati Tang Songgen (唐松根) walking across the backs of local children in a welcoming ceremony on its Marakai Island this month.
Tang accepted to participate in the ritual out of respect for local customs, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijiang (趙立堅) told a news briefing on Thursday.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
Tang is Beijing’s first ambassador to the Pacific Island nation after China and Kiribati resumed diplomatic relations in September last year.
Zhao said that social media users received “money from Taiwan for posting the pictures and comments online with ulterior motives to drive a wedge between China and Kiribati,” adding that many people in Kiribati have posted on social media in support of Tang.
“When the then-Australian high commissioner to Kiribati visited the island in 1998, local people welcomed him with the same ceremony,” Zhao said.
MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) yesterday said that Taiwan did not know of the matter or have any contact with social media users who were singled out by Beijing for “pursuing an anti-China agenda.”
China is “despicable for blatantly lying and trying to smear Taiwan,” she said.
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