China urges United States to block transit visit by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen next month
Updated
China has called on the United States not to let Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen transit there when she visits Guatemala next month, days after President-elect Donald Trump irked Beijing by speaking to Ms Tsai in a break with decades of precedent.
Key points:
- China is suspicious of Taiwan potentially pushing for independence
- Taiwan has not confirmed the trip, but media reports have detailed a transit stop
- China maintains that Taiwan's "real aim is self-evident"
China is deeply suspicious of Ms Tsai — whom it thinks wants to push for the formal independence of Taiwan — a self-governing island that Beijing regards as a renegade province.
Her call with Mr Trump on Friday was the first by a US president-elect or president with a Taiwanese leader since president Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 1979.
On Tuesday, Ms Tsai played down the significance of her phone conversation with Mr Trump, saying it was to congratulate the President-elect and not to push for policy changes.
"I do not foresee major policy shifts in the near future because we all see the value of stability in the region," she said.
Ms Tsai is due to visit Guatemala, one of its small band of diplomatic allies, on January 11 to 12, its Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales said — he gave no details on what President Jimmy Morales and Ms Tsai would discuss.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's Liberty Times reported on Monday that Ms Tsai was planning to transit in New York early next month on her way to visit Central American allies Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.
The trip would take place before Mr Trump's inauguration on January 20, and Ms Tsai's delegation would seek to meet Mr Trump's team, including his White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, the Liberty Times said.
Taiwan's 'real aim is self-evident': China
Taiwan has not formally confirmed Ms Tsai's trip — calling the media reports "excessive speculation" — but visits to its allies in the region are normally combined with transit stops in the United States and meetings with Taiwan-friendly officials.
Asked about the possibility of a Tsai stopover in the United States, China's Foreign Ministry said the "one China" principle, which states Taiwan is part of China, was commonly recognised by the international community.
"As for the issue you raise of a 'transit' in the United States by the leader of the Taiwan region, her real aim is self-evident," the ministry said in a statement.
China hopes the United States "does not allow her transit, and does not send any wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' forces," it added.
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said he had no information to announce about whether Ms Tsai would meet US officials if she stopped in transit.
"What I can say about that is that that kind of transit is based on long-standing US practice, and it's consistent with the unofficial nature of our relations with Taiwan," Mr Toner told a regular media briefing.
The White House said on Monday it had sought to reassure China after Mr Trump's phone call with Ms Tsai, which the Obama administration warned could undermine progress in relations with Beijing.
Mr Trump stoked controversy further on Sunday when he used Twitter to complain about Chinese economic and military policy.
Reuters
Topics: world-politics, us-elections, china, united-states, taiwan, asia
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