An attack launched against Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) has no precedent in the international community, underscoring not only China’s lack of etiquette, but also how far it is from acting as a member of “civilized society,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
In a lengthy denouncement of Wu late on Thursday, the TAO said that he is a “diehard” supporter of Taiwanese independence who peddles the lie that Taiwan is a sovereign nation.
The TAO accused Wu of distorting UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, adding that Wu’s actions to engineer Taiwan observer status at the World Health Assembly and his efforts to gain international support for Taiwan to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership openly challenged the globally accepted “one China” principle.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
It quoted a poem written by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) in 1963, The River All Red, which was a denunciation of the Soviet Union and the US.
“All forms of comments on Taiwan independence are but flies ‘humming, with a burst of shrilling and a fit of sobbing,’” it said.
While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the attack was “not worthy” of comment, the council denounced it as “slander and abuse.”
The level of vitriol aimed at Wu was unprecedented and only further highlights China’s boorish incivility and how far it is from being part of civilized society, the council said.
UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 never addressed the issue of representation of Taiwan and its people at the UN, nor did it address relations between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, it said.
Beijing is attempting to upset the international order and trying to erroneously link the UN resolution to its “one China” principle, it added.
Taiwan is within its rights to participate in any international organization or regional economic agreement and Beijing has no right to intervene, the council said, adding that the international community would not allow Beijing to unilaterally change the rules for states wishing to participate on the international stage.
The government urges Beijing to recognize the realities of cross-strait relations and to cease its acts of intimidation, it said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS