China’s government yesterday criticized US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for urging the WHO to invite Taiwan to participate in a meeting this month.
Blinken’s statement on Friday adds to a similar joint appeal by foreign ministers of the G7 major economies in London this month.
Blinken’s appeal “seriously violates the ‘one China principle’” and joint US-Chinese declarations, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said. “China firmly deplores and rejects it.”
The US has no official ties with Taiwan, but Washington and other governments have expressed growing support for Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to Beijing’s increasing assertiveness abroad.
Blinken called Taiwan a “force for good in the world” and said that it should be invited as an observer to the meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO’s decisionmaking body.
He said it could make “valuable contributions” as the world tries to end the pandemic.
Hua accused Washington of making the appeal “for political purposes.”
She said it was “detrimental to future global response to public health crises.”
Hua said Taiwan is part of China’s “core interests,” a term Beijing uses to describe issues over which it might be willing to go to war.
“China has no room for compromise on this,” she said. “We advise individual countries to immediately stop hyping Taiwan-related issues.”
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