China on Sunday promised “firm measures” in the face of the visit to the United States of Taiwanese Vice President William Lai, who arrives in New York on Sunday. Beijing sees this stay as an attack on its claims of sovereignty on the island.
According to Taipei, William Lai must simply “transit” through American soil before going to Paraguay to attend the entry into office of the new president, Santiago Peña. But the leader, with assumed independence positions and as such a pet peeve of Beijing, could meet American political figures during his visit to New York, where he says he arrived on Sunday.
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 civil war in 1949. It says it favors “peaceful” reunification with the island of 23 million people but has never given up using military force to achieve it.
Firm opposition
“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,” an official said on Sunday. spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“China is closely following ‘William Lai’s visit’ and will take firm and vigorous measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said in a statement.
The Chinese army had organized in April three-day maneuvers around Taiwan in reaction to a meeting in the United States between the speaker of the American House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy and the Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen.
Stage in San Francisco
William Lai said Sunday on the social network X (ex-Twitter) to have arrived in New York, “icon of freedom, democracy and opportunity”. He also wrote that he was greeted by representatives of the American Institute in Taiwan, the body that serves as the de facto American embassy on the island in the absence of diplomatic relations between Washington and Taipei.
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After New York, William Lai must go to Paraguay, one of the last countries to officially recognize Taipei, then stop in San Francisco on the way back. William Lai is a candidate to succeed current President Tsai Ing-wen. Both are from the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP, pro-independence).
Form of legitimacy
China views with suspicion the meetings in recent years between Taiwanese leaders and representatives of certain Western countries, in particular the United States, because they confer a form of legitimacy on the authorities of the island.
“The United States and Taiwan, in collusion, allow William Lai to engage in political activities in the United States under the pretext of transit,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. He expressed his “strong dissatisfaction” with the visit of “troublemaker” William Lai.
ats/asch
2023-08-13 07:39:34
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