China’s ambassador to Australia yesterday said that Beijing is prepared to use “all necessary means” to prevent Taiwan from being independent, saying there can be “no compromise” on its “one China” principle.
Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian (肖千) repeatedly told the National Press Club in Canberra that the US was to blame for the recent escalation in tensions, adding that China’s decision to launch ballistic missiles in live-fire exercises in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was “legitimate and justified.”
Xiao said that after a “good start” with the new government of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “there is an opportunity for a possible reset of relationship” between China and Australia.
Photo: EPA-EFE
He said China was ready to solve trade disputes through the WTO or “if the new government in this country is ready, to discuss it bilaterally.”
The comments echo an olive branch from Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell, suggesting that a “compromise situation” or “alternative way” might emerge in trade talks between the two countries.
Since the Labor Party’s election in May, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) have both met their Chinese counterparts, the beginning of a thaw in relations that soured over nine years of the Liberal-National Coalition government.
In the past few days, Wong has expressed deep concern about China’s launch of ballistic missiles into waters around Taiwan, prompting a rebuke from China that Australia had “condemned the victim along with the perpetrators.”
Xiao yesterday said it was “the US side that should and must take full responsibility for the escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait.”
He said the drills reflected “a determination to show that on the question of Taiwan, there’s no room for compromise.”
“It’s not something, like, economic development or trade relations or issues in some other areas. On the question of Taiwan, it’s an issue relating to sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
Xiao rejected the language of a possible “invasion” of Taiwan by saying that China’s policy reflected in “UN resolutions [and] bilateral documents between China and Australia” was that Taiwan was not an “independent state,” but rather a province of China.
“It’s an issue of reunification, complete reunification ... and of Taiwan coming back to the motherland,” he said.
Use of force was the last thing China wanted, as it was “waiting for a peaceful reunification,” he added.
“But we cannot, we can never rule out the option to use other means, so when necessary, when compelled, we are ready to use all necessary means. As to what does it mean, ‘all necessary means’? You can use your imagination, but ... [the] Chinese people are absolutely determined to protect our sovereignty, territorial integrity, we will never allow Taiwan to be separated from China.”
Asked about China’s ambassador to France suggesting Taiwanese could be “re-educated,” Xiao said he was not aware of an “official policy,” but his “personal understanding” was “there might be a process for the people in Taiwan to have a correct understanding of China about the motherland.”
Xiao said that an incident in which China performed what Australia described as a “dangerous maneuver” against a maritime surveillance flight in international airspace in the South China Sea region as “very unfortunate.”
However, he said the incident occurred in a “location that is within the territorial space of an island that belongs to China” — which Australia rejects — likening the incident to someone “carrying a gun and trying to peep into your windows to see what you’re doing.”
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
A Virginia man having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair on Monday was found guilty of murdering his wife and another man that prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy. Brendan Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service law enforcement officer, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalhaes, the au pair, shot him, too, but officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true, telling jurors that Brendan Banfield set
RSS