It’s a new episode of tension around Taiwan. China promised on Wednesday March 29 to “retaliate” if the Taiwanese president met the Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy during a trip to the United States and Central America to strengthen the island’s diplomatic ties with its allies.
President Tsai Ing-wen is stopping in New York on Wednesday, before traveling to Guatemala and Belize, then will stop in California on the way back from this trip, where Kevin McCarthy said he would meet her.
Beijing warned on Wednesday that it was “resolutely opposed” to such a meeting, promising to take “firm measures to retaliate” if it took place.
China considers the autonomous island as one of its provinces and intends to take it back by force if necessary. In the name of its “one China” principle, no country is supposed to maintain official ties with Beijing and Taipei at the same time.
Such a meeting would be considered “a new provocation that will seriously violate the one-China principle, undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and jeopardize peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”, said Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing.
“External pressure will not hinder our determination” to be active on the international scene, Tsai Ing-wen said before leaving Taiwan.
“A pretext to overreact”
During this ten-day trip, Tsai Ing-wen will meet the President of Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei and the Prime Minister of Belize John Briceno.
Belize and Guatemala are among the last 13 countries to officially recognize Taiwan over Beijing, after Honduras established diplomatic ties with China on Sunday.
Tsai Ing-wen will stop in Los Angeles on her way back to Taiwan. Kevin McCarthy said he would meet her, which Taiwanese authorities have not confirmed.
In 2022, a visit to Taiwan by Kevin McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, sparked the ire of Beijing.
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“There is absolutely no reason for China to use this as a pretext to overreact or engage in increased coercion against Taiwan,” a senior US official said Wednesday.
But for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Washington “is blindly in collusion with Taiwan and supports the independence and secessionist forces” of the island. Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning urged the United States to cease all forms of official exchange with Taiwan and “stop (…) undermining the political foundations of China-US relations”.
Beijing has increased military pressureeconomic and diplomatic on the island since Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, and since then recovered nine of its diplomatic allies.
“Beijing’s attempts to seize Taiwan’s diplomatic partners will lead Taiwan to develop closer ties with the United States,” said James Lee, a specialist in US-Taiwanese relations at Sinica Academy in Taiwan.
China’s “Coercion and Intimidation”
Washington, which nevertheless granted its diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979, is the most powerful ally of the island as well as its main supplier of arms.
According to James Lee, “the loss of official relations with third countries will be compensated by the deepening of Taiwan’s unofficial relations”.
One of Tsai Ing-wen’s main opponents in Taiwan, former President Ma Ying-jeou, was in China on Wednesday, where he called on “both sides” to “avoid war and seek peace”. This is the first such trip for a former Taiwanese leader.
Latin America, where China has increased its investments, has become strategic ground in the diplomatic battle that has pitted Taipei against Beijing since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
Taipei on Sunday denounced China’s “coercion and intimidation” to take away its allies, after the official announcement in Beijing of the establishment of diplomatic relations between hondurasone of the poorest countries in Latin America, and China.
Besides Guatemala and Belize, Taiwan still maintains diplomatic relations with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Paraguay and Haiti, but also with Pacific island nations and the Vatican.
With AFP
