【Epoch Times, August 13, 2022】Republic of China Foreign Minister Wu Zhaoxie said on the 12th that Taipei “very welcomes” more foreign delegations, and insisted that the Taiwan government will not be swayed by the Chinese Communist Party against US House Speaker Nancy Pelo. West was intimidated by the angry reaction to his visit last week.
In an exclusive interview with VOA, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Wu Zhaoxie also criticized China’s military exercises in response to Pelosi’s visit, accusing Beijing of “undermining the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.”
Wu Zhaoxie said that Taiwan will not stop implementing its own foreign policy.
“We need to remember that if we’re doing the right thing, it shouldn’t stop because of China’s anger,” he said. “They can always find an excuse to threaten Taiwan militarily,” Wu added.
After Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the CCP surrounded Taiwan for several days with an unprecedented large-scale military exercise. Chinese state media described the drills as exercises to invade or block Taiwan.
However, the CCP’s response does not appear to prevent similar high-level foreign delegations wishing to express their support for a democratically governed Taiwan.
A senior delegation of British lawmakers is expected to visit Taiwan later this year, the Guardian reported. U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also recently said he would visit Taiwan as Speaker of the House if his Republican Party wins the November midterm elections.
“We welcome anyone who wants to come to Taiwan to show support to visit us,” Wu told VOA in an interview at Taiwan’s foreign ministry.
Although Pelosi’s visit is the first by a U.S. House speaker in 25 years, U.S. congressional delegations frequently visit Taiwan to express support.
The CCP sees such support as a violation of its sovereignty. Even though the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled the island, the CCP says Taiwan has been part of the CCP for hundreds of years and does not rule out taking it back by force.
Reject the CCP’s claims
The CCP has long proposed a “one country, two systems” policy towards Taiwan, which theoretically would provide Taiwan with more autonomy if the CCP unified Taiwan.
But earlier this week, the Chinese government released a white paper that said Beijing would offer Taiwan less flexibility than previously promised.
The white paper is the first in nearly two decades to outline China’s policy toward Taiwan.
Past Taiwan policy white papers included a sentence that said the CCP would not send troops or administrative personnel to Taiwan after reunification. This sentence has been removed in the latest version.
The document did not renounce the use of force to retake Taiwan, but said the CCP preferred a peaceful reunification. It also promised that Taiwan would maintain its “current social system” and a “high degree of autonomy.”
The white paper “reiterates many statements or principles that the people of Taiwan are not interested in,” Wu said, noting that the “one country, two systems” proposal was an “illusion.”
“That kind of thinking has been completely destroyed by the way the Chinese government has treated Hong Kong,” he added.
When the CCP took back Hong Kong from Britain, it also promised that Hong Kong would be granted a “high degree of autonomy”. But a sweeping national security law enacted by China in 2020 has largely eroded freedoms in Hong Kong.
“Taiwanese people see this situation … know that this is not something we want to accept,” Wu said.
According to a poll conducted last November, only 1.6 percent of Taiwanese supported reunification with the CCP. The vast majority also said they opposed declaring independence, with 85 percent saying they supported maintaining the status quo.
With Taiwanese public opinion firmly opposed to Beijing, some Chinese diplomats are making threats. Earlier this month, China’s ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, told a French television program that the Chinese Communist Party would implement a “re-education” program to instill a sense of loyalty after China’s occupation of Taiwan.
Taiwanese have long been dealing with the threat of the CCP, and Lu Shaye’s proposal has aroused mixed reactions from Taiwanese, some feel angry, some find it funny. When asked about Lu Shaye’s comments, Wu Zhaoxie said that Taiwanese would “laugh off their teeth.”
“Freedom and democracy have become part of our lives. We believe in it. If the Chinese government wants to change this, the people of Taiwan will say it is impossible,” he said.
The Taiwanese people understand that the CCP’s actions against Taiwan have “become very provocative and reckless,” he said.
CCP ‘destroys the status quo’
Despite China’s announcement earlier this week that it was ending military exercises, Wu said the threat remained, noting that Chinese warplanes continued to cross the so-called center line of the Taiwan Strait.
The median line, he said, was the de facto maritime border that had “maintained peace and stability” for decades. He said recent provocations near the line were “a clear sign that China is undermining the status quo.”
Observers are watching closely to see whether China will continue its central-line incursions and other provocations in the coming months. If China normalizes its military presence closer to Taiwan, this will increase the likelihood of miscalculation and could lead to less room for strategic maneuvering by Taiwan’s military.
During China’s most recent exercise, U.S. aircraft carriers and other military equipment stayed relatively far apart. Pentagon officials emphasized de-escalation, saying they did not want war to break out. But some Taiwanese analysts have warned that the approach has brought the Chinese military closer to Taiwan than ever before.
Although Taiwan “doesn’t want to make concessions” to the CCP, Wu said he understands the U.S. decision to remain calm. “We are doing the same thing. We are not trying to provoke China,” he said. “We will remain calm while remaining confident. We want to be responsible stakeholders in this region.”
(Voice of America)
Responsible editor: Zhong Yuan