China opposes Taiwanese presidential candidate's US stopover plan

By Alperen Aktas

ISTANBUL (AA) – China on Monday opposed Taiwan’s Vice President Lai Ching-te’s planned stopover in the US next month.

Lai is a presidential candidate of the governing Democratic Progressive Party for the upcoming elections in January.

Mao Ning, spokeswoman of China’s Foreign Ministry, said: “China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region.”

“(China) firmly opposes the US’ conniving with and supporting the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists and their separatist activities in any form,” said Mao, according to a transcript issued by the ministry.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Lai will attend the presidential inauguration of Santiago Pena in Paraguay next month.

The island nation’s Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Yui said Lai will have a stopover in the US during his trip to the Central American nation. He provided no further details, according to the Focus Taiwan news website.

“We have lodged serious representations with the US side,” Mao told reporters in Beijing.

“We urge the US to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, act on its leaders’ commitment including not supporting ‘Taiwan independence,’ stop official interaction with Taiwan, stop upgrading its substantive exchanges with the region, and stop sending any wrong signal to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces,” the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added.

China considers Taiwan its “breakaway province” and reacts sharply to any interaction between Washington and Taipei.

In April this year, China sanctioned the US Hudson Institute and the Reagan Library, as well as their directors, for hosting Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen after she “transited” the US.

Hudson Institute in New York hosted an event where Tsai was presented with a global leadership award on March 30.

On her return from Guatemala and Belize, two of the only 13 diplomatic allies of Taiwan, the Reagan Library hosted a meeting between Tsai and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the US state of California.