China reacts to US transit of Taiwanese lighter, potentially causing military pressure.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, Vice President Lee Ching-jeou, is traveling through the United States on his way to Paraguay, prompting a strong reaction from China.
“China firmly opposes the official cross-strait travel between the United States and Taiwan, opposes divisive forces visiting the United States under any name or for any reason, and opposes the United States tolerating and supporting them and their actions in any form,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement posted on its website, according to media outlets on March 3 local time.
“The Taiwan issue is at the core of China’s core interests and is a red line that cannot be crossed in U.S.-China relations,” the spokesperson continued. “We call on the U.S. to uphold the “One China” principle and the provisions of the China-U.S. Trilateral Communiqué (a key statement in bilateral relations, including the Diplomatic Relations Statement), and to fulfill the U.S. leader’s pledge not to support Taiwan independence.
“China will closely monitor the development of the situation and take resolute and strong measures to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said, adding, “Taiwan independence has no way out, flattering the United States to sell out Taiwan is harming the Taiwanese people, and any act to provoke independence in collusion with external forces will surely fail.”
In April of this year, when President Tsai Ing-wen met with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and others in Los Angeles, a stopover on her trip to Central America, Beijing unleashed a high-intensity show of force that included a three-day siege of Taiwan from all sides.
Prior to that, in August of last year, it had raised the threat level with large-scale military exercises that surrounded Taiwan, 먹튀검증 taking issue with then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island.
This has led to speculation that Lai’s trip to the U.S. could also see Beijing step up military pressure through armed demonstrations.
