Beijing raises the tone against the transit in the United States of the vice-president of Taiwan

2023-08-13 06:43:17

Even flash, it is a move that does not please Beijing at all. China has indeed promised Sunday “firm and energetic measures” in the face of the visit to the United States of William Lai, the vice-president of Taiwan.

“China is closely monitoring the development of the situation and will take firm and vigorous measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Military force remains an option for Beijing

China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces, which it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. It says it favors “peaceful reunification” with territory, now governed by a democratic system, but it has never renounced the use of military force to achieve this.

Beijing is unhappy with the rapprochement in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and certain Western countries, in particular the United States, seeing it as a threat to its territorial integrity because these meetings bring a form of legitimacy to the Taiwanese authorities.

Officially according to Taiwan, William Lai must simply “transit” through the United States – like Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen at the beginning of April – before going to Paraguay to attend the entry into office of the new president, Santiago Peña. Paraguay is one of the last countries to officially recognize Taipei.

“China firmly opposes any form of official contact between the United States and Taiwan and firmly opposes any separatists advocating Taiwanese independence traveling to the United States,” the ministry said. Chinese Foreign. “The United States and Taiwan, in collusion, allow William Lai to carry out political activities in the United States under the pretext of a transit”, which “seriously undermines the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China “, he underlined. William Lai published this Sunday on X a photo of him, saying he had arrived in New York.

Thank you @boardchairait for the warm welcome to NYC, and congratulations to your family on this important occasion of your sister’s wedding. I look forward to seeing you in SFO! https://t.co/gTBL2JBKcG

— Lai Ching-te (@ChingteLai) August 13, 2023

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William Lai is also a candidate to succeed current President Tsai Ing-wen. Both from a militant party traditionally for independence, they are as such regularly vilified by Beijing. The Chinese army had organized three-day maneuvers around the island in April in response to a meeting in the United States between the speaker of the American House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy and Tsai Ing-wen.