Tag: Taiwan

Macron was ‘kissing Xi’s ass’ in China, Trump says

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Donald Trump accused French President Emmanuel Macron of sucking up to China late Wednesday.
“You’ve got this crazy world that’s blowing up and the United States have absolutely no say,” Trump, who became the first U.S. president — former or current — to be indicted last month, told Fox News.
“And Macron, who’s a friend of mine, is over with China kissing [Xi’s] ass in China, okay. I said France is now going to China?” said Trump, whose relationship with Macron gradually soured during his time in office.
Macron’s comments come after the French president suggested Europe avoid getting dragged into a U.S.-China confrontation over Taiwan, in an interview with POLITICO during his official visit to China.
The “great risk” Europe faces, Macron claimed, is that it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy.”
Macron’s comments have not made him new friends on the other side of the Atlantic.
In the U.S., Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, called them “embarrassing” and “disgraceful. The White House said only that it was “focused on the terrific collaboration and coordination that we have with France,” per National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
Despite his harsh words for Macron’s China trip, Trump — who more than once boasted about his excellent relationship with the Chinese president when he was in office — went on to praise Xi Jinping in his interview Wednesday.

“President Xi is a brilliant man: if you went all over Hollywood to look for somebody to play the role of President Xi, you couldn’t find him,” Trump said.
“There’s nobody like that: The look, the brains, the whole thing,” he added, describing Xi someone who is “top of the line smart.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 11, 2023
Germany aims to ‘set the record straight’ on China after Macron’s Taiwan comments

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BERLIN — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is heading to China to represent Berlin, but she’ll likely have more explaining to do about Paris in the wake of French President Emmanuel Macron’s explosive comments on Taiwan.
As Baerbock embarked on her two-day visit Wednesday evening, officials in Berlin were eager to stress that Germany and the EU care about Taiwan and stability in the region, arguing it’s mainly China that must contribute to de-escalation by refraining from aggressive military maneuvers close to the island nation.
Baerbock’s trip comes amid international backlash against Macron’s comments in an interview with POLITICO, arguing Europe should avoid becoming America’s follower, including on the matter of Taiwan’s security. Although German government spokespeople refused to comment directly on the French president’s remarks, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry specifically called out Beijing when expressing “great concern” over the situation in the Taiwan Strait.
“We expect all parties in the region to contribute to peace. That applies equally to the People’s Republic of China,” the spokesperson said, adding: “And it seems to us that actions such as military threatening gestures are counter to that goal and, in fact, increase the risk of unintended military clashes.”
Nils Schmid, the foreign policy spokesperson for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), said he expects Baerbock to “set the record straight” during her trip to China, which will involve meetings with Beijing’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Vice President Han Zheng and top diplomat Wang Yi.
“We clearly defined in the [government] coalition agreement that we need a changed China policy because China has changed. The chancellor made that clear during his visit. Above all, Scholz also issued clear warnings about Taiwan during his visit [last year],” Schmid wrote in a tweet. “I assume that Foreign Minister Baerbock will repeat exactly that and thus set the record straight and make a clarification after Macron’s botched visit.”
Berlin traditionally has been much more in sync with the U.S. on foreign and security policy than France has, which is why many politicians and officials in the German capital reacted with horror to Macron’s comments. The French president said Europe should not take its “cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” suggesting the EU stood between the two sides, rather than being aligned with its longtime democratic partners in Washington.
Macron gave the impression to some in the U.S. that Europeans see Beijing and Washington as “equidistant” from Brussels in terms of values and as allies, said SPD foreign policy lawmaker Metin Hakverdi, who is currently on a parliamentary visit to the U.S.

“That was foolish,” Hakverdi told POLITICO, adding that “Macron potentially damaged the peaceful status quo around Taiwan” by giving “the public impression that Europe has no particular interest in the conflict over Taiwan.
“The issue of Taiwan is not an internal matter for the People’s Republic of China. Anything else would virtually invite Beijing to attack Taiwan,” Hakverdi added. “I am confident that our foreign minister will make that clear during her trip to Asia — both to Beijing and to our Asian partners.”
Katja Leikert from the main German opposition party, the center-right CDU, criticized Macron’s comments as “extremely short-sighted,” and added: “Should China decide to strike Taiwan militarily, either by invading it or by starting a maritime blockade, this would have significant political and economic repercussions for us. We cannot just wish that away.
“What we actually need to do right now is strengthen our defense against aggressive measures from Beijing,” Leikert said.
For Berlin, Macron’s comments also come at a particularly bad moment for transatlantic ties. The German government is keen to mend cracks in its relationship with Washington that have emerged over the controversial benefits for U.S. businesses under Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Europe hopes to reach an agreement so that its own companies may also be eligible for these subsidies.
Macron’s comments “will not help in renegotiations on the Inflation Reduction Act, nor will they help Joe Biden in the election campaign against populist Republican candidates,” said the SPD’s Hakverdi.
The German foreign ministry spokesperson was quick to stress that both France and Germany were involved in shaping a joint EU-China policy | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
The German foreign ministry spokesperson was quick to stress that both France and Germany were involved in shaping a joint EU-China policy, which was also done in cooperation “with our transatlantic partner.”
During her trip to China, Baerbock plans to raise the situation in the Taiwan Strait; Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine; the human rights situation in China; as well as the fight against climate crisis, the spokesperson said.
Baerbock’s foreign ministry is also currently drafting Germany’s first China strategy. A draft of this seen by POLITICO last year vowed to take a much harder line toward Beijing. Baerbock and her Green party are at the forefront of pushing such a tougher position, while Scholz has long preferred a softer approach.
Incidentally, however, the German government said Wednesday it is reassessing whether to potentially take a firmer stance and ban Chinese state company Cosco from going through with a highly controversial move to buy parts of a Hamburg port terminal.
Scholz had strongly pushed for the port deal ahead of his own trip to Beijing last year, but the future of the transaction is now in doubt after German security authorities classified the terminal as “critical infrastructure.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 11, 2023
Poland’s Morawiecki plays Europe’s anti-Macron in Washington

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There’s an Emmanuel Macron-shaped shadow hovering over this week’s U.S. visit by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
In contrast to the French president — who in an interview with POLITICO tried to put some distance between the U.S. and Europe in any future confrontation with China over Taiwan and called for strengthening the Continent’s “strategic autonomy” — the Polish leader is underlining the critical importance of the alliance between America and Europe, not least because his country is one of Kyiv’s strongest allies in the war with Russia.
“Instead of building strategic autonomy from the United States, I propose a strategic partnership with the United States,” he said before flying to Washington.

In the U.S. capital, Morawiecki continued with his under-the-table kicks at the French president.
“I see no alternative, and we are absolutely on the same wavelength here, to building an even closer alliance with the Americans. If countries to the west of Poland understand this less, it is probably because of historical circumstances,” he said on Tuesday in Washington.
Unlike France, which has spent decades bristling at Europe’s reliance on the U.S. for its security, Poland is one of the Continent’s keenest American allies. Warsaw has pushed hard for years for U.S. troops to be stationed on its territory, and many of its recent arms contracts have gone to American companies. It signed a $1.4 billion deal earlier this year to buy a second batch of Abrams tanks, and has also agreed to spend $4.6 billion on advanced F-35 fighter jets.
“I am glad that this proposal for an even deeper strategic partnership is something that finds such fertile ground here in the United States, because we know that there are various concepts formulated by others in Europe, concepts that create more threats, more question marks, more unknowns,” Morawiecki said. “Poland is trying to maintain the most commonsense policy based on a close alliance with the United States within the framework of the European Union, and this is the best path for Poland.”
Fast friends
Poland has become one of Ukraine’s most important allies, and access to its roads, railways and airports is crucial in funneling weapons, ammunition and other aid to Ukraine.
That’s helped shift perceptions of Poland — seen before the war as an increasingly marginal member of the Western club thanks to its issues with violating the rule of law, into a key country of the NATO alliance.
Warsaw also sees the Russian attack on Ukraine as justifying its long-held suspicion of its historical foe, and it hasn’t been shy in pointing the finger at Paris and Berlin for being wrong about the threat posed by the Kremlin.
“Old Europe believed in an agreement with Russia, and old Europe failed,” Morawiecki said in a joint news conference with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. “But there is a new Europe — Europe that remembers what Russian communism was. And Poland is the leader of this new Europe.”
That’s why Macron’s comments have been seized on by Warsaw.
According to Poland’s PM Mateusz Morawiecki, Emmanuel Macron’s talks of distancing the EU from America “threatens to break up” the block | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
“I absolutely don’t agree with President Macron. We believe that more America is needed in Europe … We want more cooperation with the U.S. on a partnership basis,” Marcin Przydacz, a foreign policy adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda, told Poland’s Radio Zet, adding that the strategic autonomy idea pushed by Macron “has the goal of cutting links between Europe and the United States.”
While Poland is keen on European countries hitting NATO’s goal of spending at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense — a target that only seven alliance members, including Poland, but not France and Germany, are meeting — and has no problem with them building up military industries, it doesn’t want to weaken ties with the U.S., said Sławomir Dębski, head of the state-financed Polish Institute of International Affairs.
He warned that Macron’s talks of distancing Europe from America in the event of a conflict with China “threatens to break up the EU, which is against the interests not only of Poland, but also of most European countries.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 11, 2023
Japan prime minister vows to boost G7 security after smoke bomb attack

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Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he would increase security at G7 meetings taking place in his country, a day after a man threw a smoke bomb at him at a campaign event.
Kishida was campaigning Saturday ahead of next week’s by-elections for the Japanese parliament when an explosive device was hurled toward him. Footage on Twitter appeared to show a bodyguard kicking a smoke bomb away from the prime minister and bundling him away, after the device landed near them. A 24-year-old man was arrested at the scene.
Japan will host the leaders of the Group of Seven most industrialized nations at a summit in Hiroshima next month.
On Sunday, speaking after emerging unscathed from the smoke bomb incident, CNN quoted Kishida as saying: “Japan as a whole must strive to provide maximum security during the dates of the summit and other gatherings of dignitaries from around the world.”
G7 foreign ministers are meeting Sunday for a three-day conference in Karuizawa, where they are expected to discuss China’s aggression toward Taiwan, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and North Korea’s missile testing. G7 climate ministers, meanwhile, are completing a two-day meeting in Sapporo.
The Kishida incident had eerie echoes of the shocking assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last July.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 11, 2023

GOP lawmakers condemn French President Macron’s ‘betrayal’ of Taiwan

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Republicans on Capitol Hill sounded equally as dire.

“The Chinese Communist Party is the most significant challenge to Western society, our economic security, and our way of life…France must be clear-eyed about this threat,” said Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Macron’s statements “were embarrassing, they were disgraceful… and very geopolitically naïve,” Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chair of the House Select Committee on China, told Fox News on Monday. The French president’s views “are disheartening because the Chinese Communist Party’s threat to Taiwan is a growing danger to the global balance of power,” said Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The State Department argued that Macron’s comments were not as divisive as they might seem. “There is immense convergence between us and our European allies and partners and how we tackle [China’s] challenge head-on,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters on Monday.

The White House took a similar tack. “We’ll let the Élysée speak for President Macron’s comments — we’re focused on the terrific collaboration and coordination that we have with France as an ally and a friend,” said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

Macron’s comments reflect his belief that European countries should embrace a concept of “strategic autonomy” on economic and geostrategic issues distinct from U.S. foreign policy settings. But that strategy is at odds with President Joe Biden’s efforts to create a common front with allies and partners — including those in the European Union — to fend off China’s and Russia’s threats to what the administration calls the “rules-based international order.”

The uproar over Macron’s statements also reflects a divide in Europe over how to approach China — an economic powerhouse that many are loath to completely desert.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who accompanied Macron for part of his visit, said she told Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping during their meeting in Beijing last week that “the threat [of] the use of force to change [Taiwan’s] status quo is unacceptable.”

The French embassy blamed the furor over Macron’s remarks on “overinterpretations” and said that France’s position on Taiwan is unchanged. Last year, then-French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described Taiwan’s security as essential to regional stability and said that France was “very keen to act to prevent any conflict.”

Macron was saying that “if we cannot end the conflict in #Ukraine, what credibility will we have on Taiwan? We seek to engage with China for peace&stability in Ukraine. And the Taiwan issue obviously came up in his talks w/Pres Xi,” the French embassy’s press counselor, Pascal Confavreux, said in a series of tweets on Monday.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, D.C. — the self-governing island’s de facto embassy — didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Some GOP lawmakers called for a re-evaluation of the U.S.-French relationship. “If France is truly committed to abandoning democratic nations in favor of a brutal communist regime, the United States must reassess its posture toward France,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), chair of the Congressional Executive Commission on China. He called Macron’s statement a “seeming betrayal of democratic Taiwan.”

Others saw a double standard in France’s support for U.S. efforts to defend Ukraine while turning a blind eye to China’s threat to Taiwan. “Macron wants the U.S. to ride to Europe’s rescue against Russian aggression, but apparently take a vow of neutrality against Chinese aggression in the Pacific,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) tweeted on Monday.

Longer term, Macron’s comments could help bolster GOP lawmakers who want an end to the Biden administration’s massive outlay of cash and weaponry to support Ukraine’s battle against Russia. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) earlier this month called for an end to U.S. funding for what she calls a U.S. “proxy war with Russia.” And putative GOP presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida recently dismissed the war in Ukraine as a “territorial dispute” not vital to U.S. national security interests, a position he walked back several days later.

“If Macron speaks for all of Europe, and their position now is they’re not going to pick sides between the U.S. and China over Taiwan…maybe we should basically say we’re going to focus on Taiwan and the threats that China poses, and you guys handle Ukraine and Europe,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in a tweet on Sunday.

Alex Ward contributed to this report.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 11, 2023

GOP lawmakers condemn French President Macron’s ‘betrayal’ of Taiwan

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Republicans on Capitol Hill sounded equally as dire.

The uproar over Macron’s statements also reflects a divide in Europe over how to approach China — an economic powerhouse that many are loath to completely desert.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, D.C. — the self-governing island’s de facto embassy — didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Alex Ward contributed to this report.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 11, 2023

China concludes fiery military drills encircling Taiwan

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Beijing: China on Monday said it has successfully completed its three-day large-scale fire and fury military drills “encircling” Taiwan, including the use of an aircraft carrier, aimed at showing its anger over the US House Speaker’s meeting with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.

The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) successfully completed all tasks of its combat readiness patrols and exercises around Taiwan Island, official media here reported.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Sunday that in the past 24 hours, 70 Chinese aircraft and 11 Chinese ships were spotted around Taiwan.

China views Taiwan as a breakaway province. Beijing has not ruled out the possible use of force to reunify the self-ruled island with the mainland.

Analysts say that PLA’s exercises this time compared to last August when House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s predecessor Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, becoming the first high-profile American politician to visit the island defying Beijing’s redlines, were muted and far less in intensity.

China deployed its aircraft carrier ‘Shandong’ and the state-run CCTV showed missiles being fired from several of China’s coastal areas into the Taiwan Strait, the busy waterway that separates the self-governing island from the mainland but chose to end it in three days compared to its previous response.

Officials here attribute the reason for short-term drills to Presidential elections in January next year and Beijing was averse to creating a negative public impression in Taiwan which may shore up public support to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headed by Tsai, a firm opponent of reunification with China.

China hosted former Taiwanese politician Ma Ying-jeou, heading Kuomintang (KMT) party which advocates peaceful ties with Beijing. Ma concluded his visit to China just around the same time Tsai visited the US.

The PLA on Saturday said its forces launched combat readiness patrol and military exercises around Taiwan Island, which will last from April 8 to 10.

The patrol and exercises take place in the maritime areas and airspace of the Taiwan Strait, off the northern and southern coasts of the island, and to the island’s east, said Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the command.

These operations serve as a stern warning against the collusion between separatist forces seeking “Taiwan independence” and external forces and against their provocative activities, Shi said, adding that the operations are necessary for safeguarding China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday that secessionist acts of “Taiwan independence” and the connivance and support of external forces to them pose the “greatest danger” to peace in the Taiwan Straits.

Acts of “Taiwan independence” are incompatible with peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits “as fire and water,” Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the ministry, said in response to questions about the ongoing military exercises around the Taiwan Island.

“To maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, we must firmly oppose all forms of ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist acts,” Wang said at a press briefing here.

At Monday’s briefing, Wang expressed hope that the international community shall recognise the nature of the Taiwan question, adhere to the one-China principle, and oppose all forms of “Taiwan independence” secessionist activities.

Meanwhile, an editorial in the PLA Daily on Monday said the US cannot be relied on to defend Taiwan.

It accused Washington of using Taiwan as a pawn and creating a “porcupine” island to contain Beijing, referring to the military strategy of deterring military attacks from the mainland by making conflict too costly.

In the last two days, the PLA simulated missile strikes against key targets on Taiwan and waters near it. It also sent warplanes and ships near Taiwan to improve its combat readiness across multiple armed services and the ability to encircle the island.

The PLA Daily editorial accused the US of having ulterior motives when selling arms to Taiwan.

“Can the US’ ‘security guarantee’ be depended on? The answer is, of course, a resounding no,” the editorial said.

The multi-day exercises coincided with the return of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to Taipei after her high-profile visit to the US last week when she met US House Speaker McCarthy, a move denounced by Beijing.

Also, China on Friday slapped sanctions on two American organisations that hosted Tsai besides Asia-based groups – The Prospect Foundation and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats – for their involvement in promoting Taiwan’s independence.

China views any official exchanges between foreign governments and Taiwan as an infringement on Beijing’s claims of sovereignty over the island.

The aggressive exercises were launched after French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his high-profile visit to China on Friday, during which he held wide-range talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, prodding him to use his friendship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Tsai’s predecessor and pro-Beijing politician, Ma Ying-jeou, also returned to Taiwan on Friday last, ending a 12-day trip to the Chinese mainland, where he sought to promote the one-China framework as the basis for improving cross-strait ties and holding talks.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 10, 2023

China sanctions US organisations for hosting Taiwan President Tsai during stopover

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Beijing: China on Friday slapped sanctions on two American organisations that hosted Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen during her visit to the US and her meeting with the House Speaker, a day after President Xi Jinping said it is “wishful thinking” to expect Beijing to “compromise” on its stand on the self-ruled island.

Tsai’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy – the third most senior official in the US – on Thursday took place against the backdrop of repeated warnings from Beijing to Washington that the meeting should not happen. It was the first time a Taiwan president had met a US Speaker on American soil.

China views any official exchanges between foreign governments and Taiwan as an infringement on Beijing’s claims of sovereignty over the island.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California would be banned from any cooperation, exchange or transaction with institutions and individuals in China.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley was the site where Tsai met McCarthy and a bipartisan group of congressional leaders. It was the second high-profile meeting between an American official and Taiwan’s president.

China also sanctioned the Hudson Institute, which hosted an event and presented Tsai with its global leadership award on March 30.

The sanctioned groups included Asia-based groups –The Prospect Foundation and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats for their involvement in promoting Taiwan’s independence.

“[The] Taiwan issue is the core of China’s core interests. The Chinese government and Chinese people will never agree to anyone making a fuss about the one-China issue,” President Xi told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a meeting in Beijing on Thursday.

It was his first comment after the US House Speaker McCarthy met Tsai, which Beijing sharply criticised.

“Anyone who expects China to compromise on the Taiwan question could only be wishful thinking and self-defeating,” Xi was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, von der Leyen said the Taiwan issue had been discussed and she had told Xi that “the threat to use force to change the status quo is unacceptable. It is important that some of the tensions that might occur should be resolved through dialogue”, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

On Friday’s sanctions, the foreign ministry in Beijing said that both American institutions were banned from having exchanges, cooperation, and other activities with any individuals, universities or institutions in China.

“We want to stress China will take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a media briefing.

She also sought to dismiss a question on how Beijing can integrate Taiwan, which follows a multiple-party democratic system with that of China’s one-party rule headed by the ruling Communist Party.

The Taiwan question is not about democracy but about China’s territorial integrity and reunification and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, Mao said.

“The sovereignty and territory of China have never been divided and will never be divided,” she asserted.

“Some countries support Taiwan in the name of democracy and use the Taiwan question to contain China. This move is dangerous and gets nowhere. Taiwan’s future lies in the development of cross-strait relations and reunification with the mainland,” she added.

The difference in systems is not a barrier to reunification or an excuse for division, Mao said and advocated the ‘one country-two systems’ formula which Beijing sought to apply to Hong Kong.

Peaceful reunification and the ‘one country two systems’ take Taiwan’s realities into full account and help to achieve peace and stability after re-unification, she said.

“It is the basic principle to resolving the Taiwan question and the best way for realising reunification,” she said.

The sanctions came a day after China vowed reprisals against Taiwan.

China and the US also flexed their naval might by deploying aircraft carriers in a rare showdown in the Taiwan Strait.

Under its longstanding “One China” policy, the US acknowledges China’s position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially recognised Beijing’s claim to the island of 23 million. Under the Taiwan Relations Act, it is also bound by law to provide the democratic island with the means to defend itself.

“China is overreacting when it uses this as a pretext to further suppress Taiwan’s international space and impose so-called sanctions on related individuals and organisations. Such irrational behaviour not only increases the Taiwanese people’s antipathy to China but also exposes the erratic and absurd nature of the communist regime,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 7, 2023

China sanctions US organisations for hosting Taiwan President during stopover

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Beijing: China on Friday slapped sanctions on two American organisations that hosted Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen during her visit to the US and her meeting with the House Speaker, a day after President Xi Jinping said it is “wishful thinking” to expect Beijing to “compromise” on its stand on the self-ruled island.