The US Department of State has called on Beijing to act with restraint and not use Taiwan’s transition of government as a pretext for provocative or coercive actions following the inauguration of President William Lai (賴清德).
In an e-mailed statement, a department spokesperson welcomed the comments by Lai in his inaugural address in Taipei on Monday, noting his commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and to maintaining the “status quo.”
The inauguration was part of a normal, routine democratic process and if Beijing escalates tensions or pressures Taiwan as a result, it should be seen as the provocateur, the statement said.
Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters
US policy toward Taiwan has not changed, opposing unilateral changes to the “status quo” by either side in line with its long-standing commitment to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, it said.
The US also does not support Taiwanese independence, but encourages cross-strait dialogue and expects that differences would be resolved peacefully and in a manner acceptable to people on both sides of, it said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said that the speech delivered by “the leader of the Taiwan region,” had “stubbornly insisted on the position of Taiwanese independence,” Xinhua news agency reported.
Chen, who did not mention Lai by name, said that the speech contained “separatist fallacies” and attempted to “incite division” among people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
China also criticized US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for extending his congratulations to Lai and separately sanctioned former US representative Mike Gallagher for his support of Taipei.
Blinken on Monday congratulated Lai shortly after the inauguration ceremony.
The US looks forward to working with Lai and others in Taiwan “to advance our shared interests and values,” Blinken said.
“It’s a serious violation of the political commitment made by the US to maintain only cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the Taiwan region,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said yesterday.
The remarks by the US’ top diplomat sent “a seriously wrong signal to the Taiwan separatist forces,” Wang said, adding that Beijing had filed a diplomatic complaint with Washington, and called on “the US to immediately correct their mistakes.”
In Taipei, the Mainland Affairs Council called on Beijing to be receptive to an overture expressed by Lai on Monday.
In a news release on Monday, the council said that Lai had extended “the greatest goodwill gesture” in the address by calling for engagements between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait for mutual benefit and joint prosperity.
The council urged China to respond to that overture positively and hence meet the expectations of the people on both sides of the Strait and the international community.
It would closely monitor the situation across the Taiwan Strait and promote, with prudence, cross-strait exchanges in accordance with the Constitution, the council said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS