China yesterday condemned the meeting between the President-elect of Taiwan, William Lai, with a delegation of former US officials who visited the island following last Saturday’s presidential elections.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated at a press conference that the elections in Taiwan “are China’s internal matter” and that the Chinese government “firmly opposes any official contact between the United States and Taiwan”, as well as “any US interference” in the island’s affairs. Mao urged the US to recognize “the complexity and sensitivity” of the Taiwan issue and “faithfully respect the ‘One China’ principle.”
The spokeswoman also called on Washington to act with “prudence and caution” on issues related to Taiwan, “so as not to harm in any way the ‘One China’ principle” and “not to send any wrong signals to the separatist forces” of Taiwan. Lai, also leader of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), met with former national security advisor Stephen Hadley (2001-2009) and former deputy secretary of state James Steinberg (2009-2017) at the headquarters of party, the island’s official agency, CNA, reported yesterday.
The vice president of Taiwan until now won on Saturday with 40.05% of the vote, defeating Kuomintang (KMT) opponent Hou Yu-ih (33.49%) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) opponent Ko Wen -Je (26.46%). In an appearance before the foreign press following the announcement of his victory, Lai stated that these elections demonstrated to the international community that, between “democracy and authoritarianism”, the Taiwanese chose to be “on the side of democracy”.
On Sunday, the Chinese government filed a formal complaint with the United States regarding the State Department’s reaction to the results of the elections in Taiwan, in which the head of the department, Antony Blinken, congratulated Lai and said he looked forward to working with him and promoting the bilateral relationship long-standing “unofficial” According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the US statements “seriously violated the US political commitment to maintain only cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the Taiwan region and sent a wrong signal to separatist forces seeking to independence” of the island.
Taiwan – where the Chinese nationalist army retreated following being defeated by communist troops in the civil war – has been governed autonomously since 1949, although China claims sovereignty over the island, which it considers its province, for whose “reunification” does not exclude the use of force.