Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning declared this Thursday that her country “firmly opposes” any type of official exchange between the US and Taiwan, after a Financial Times report revealed that President Joe Biden plans to send a delegation made up of former US officials to the island after the presidential elections scheduled for this Saturday.
“The United States must seriously comply with the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three joint communiqués” signed by the governments of both countries, Mao said, urging Washington to “prudently and appropriately handle the issues related” to Taipei. , as well as to stop “sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces.”
At the same time, the spokesperson warned that the US authorities should not “interfere in any way in the elections” that will be held on the island. She also asked the Biden Administration not to take actions that harm both bilateral relations and “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
“The elections in the Taiwan region are purely China’s internal affairs that do not tolerate external interference,” said Mao, emphasizing that Beijing rejects US “comments” related to the Taiwanese electoral process.
“I must emphasize that the Taiwan issue is at the very center of China’s fundamental interests and is the first red line that should not be crossed in relations” between the two nations, the spokesperson said, promising that the Chinese Government “will take measures firm and determined to safeguard their sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.
A US official, quoted by the Financial Times, commented that the White House’s decision to send a “high-level” delegation to Taiwan after the elections was a risky move that could lead to unintended consequences. “The primary objective of the United States at this delicate moment should be to encourage moderation on the part of both Beijing and Taipei,” the official defended, arguing that “more subtle actions are needed to be effective.”
Relations between the US and China remain tense due to the ambiguous position of Washington, which, although it does not diplomatically recognize Taiwan’s independence, reserves the right to maintain special ties with Taipei, which, in its opinion, takes their own decisions. Within the framework of these relations, Washington supplies weapons to the island.
Beijing considers Taiwan, which is self-governed with its own administration, as an inalienable part of its territory and insists that any negotiations with the island that bypass the central government violate the key principle of its one-China policy. With RT