US Representative Tom Tiffany has called for the expulsion of Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang (秦剛) after the envoy threatened the US that a military conflict might arise over Taiwan.
“It is the sense of [the US] Congress that the diplomatic credentials of Qin Gang, the ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United States, be revoked, and he be declared persona non grata and immediately expelled from the United States,” Tiffany said in a draft amendment to the US House of Representatives Committee on Rules.
Tiffany filed the amendment in response to Qin on Friday telling National Public Radio that “if the Taiwanese authorities, emboldened by the United States, keep going down the road for independence, it most likely [will] involve China and the United States, the two big countries, in a military conflict.”
Photo: Reuters
Qin’s remarks also prompted a response from US Representative Michelle Steel, who proposed an amendment to the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength Act (America COMPETES Act) that would see the resumption of formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei.
“The United States supports a free and independent Taiwan, and the Chinese Communist Party’s [CCP] continued show of force and violations of human rights cannot be ignored, “ she said, adding that Qin’s threat was an additional reason the Beijing Winter Olympics “should be moved.”
“This continued hostility is why I’ve offered an amendment to the America COMPETES Act that resumes diplomatic relations with Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China (ROC), as a sovereign country and supports Taiwan’s membership in international organizations. We cannot allow the CCP to continue bullying us and our allies,” she said in a news released on Friday.
The amendments would be subject to an initial review by the rules committee during a meeting tomorrow.
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