China has no right to intervene in interactions between other countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, in response to Beijing issuing a warning to the Philippines for reportedly allowing Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) to visit Manila last week.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday issued a statement saying that by letting Lin visit the country, the Philippines had severely violated the basic norms of international relations and its own commitments.
Allowing Lin’s visit “reflects the serious lack of credibility of the Philippine government,” it said, urging Manila to “stop playing with fire on issues concerning China’s core interests, and stop sending any wrong signals to ‘Taiwanese independence’ separatist forces.”
Photo: screen grab from a Ministry of Foreign Affairs livestream
“There is a price to pay for trampling on China’s red line, and all consequences arising therefrom will be borne by the Philippines,” it said.
In Taipei, MOFA on Saturday said in a statement that a delegation of investors led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-chin (黃昭欽), Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) and US-Taiwan Business Council vice president Lotta Danielsson visited the Philippines from Monday to Saturday last week.
The statement did not confirm speculations that Lin was part of the delegation, but The Associated Press on Saturday reported that two senior Philippine officials had confirmed that Taiwan’s top diplomat flew to the country in a private capacity to lead a major delegation of Taiwanese investors and business executives.
Asked about Beijing’s statement, MOFA spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said: “China has set many red lines for countries around the world, but relations between countries should be based on mutual respect and reciprocity.”
“It is natural and normal for Taiwan and the Philippines to want to strengthen mutual investment and trade relations, and China has no right to intervene,” he said.
The main purpose of the delegation was to promote the “Taiwan-Philippines economic corridor” under the “Co-Prosperity Project” in the spirit of the US-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, he said.
The association and the council in May signed a memorandum of understanding to explore economic and trade cooperation between Taiwan and the US, and the organizations hope to jointly invest in a third country, Hsiao said.
MOFA hopes Taiwan and the US would have the opportunity to increase investment in the Philippines and facilitate the Taiwan-Philippines economic corridor and other joint ventures.
“Regarding whether the minister joined the group and visited the Philippines, the ministry has no comment,” he said.
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