Taipei/Beijing, Dec 4 (EFE).- China’s military threats against Taiwan not only lack among the island’s citizens but deepen divisions between both sides of the Strait, a senior Taiwanese official in charge of relations with Beijing said on Wednesday.
Over recent days, Beijing has repeatedly expressed its firm rejection of Taiwanese President William Lai’s current tour of Pacific allies, a trip that includes technical stops in the US territories of Guam and Hawaii, where he stayed for two nights and met with US officials.
The head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council—the body responsible for relations with China—Chiu Chui-cheng said that Lai’s visits abroad were to “consolidate relations and expand diplomacy,” a mission “that the Taiwanese people unanimously .”
“However, the C (Chinese Communist Party) threatens Taiwan with its military hegemony. This is something that all the people do not agree with and will only make the two sides of the Taiwan Strait unhappy,” Chiu said in statements reported by the state news agency CNA. “The relationship is gradually drifting apart, which will not help the future interaction between the two sides.”
The official also urged the international community to “take a serious look” at the “continued intimidation” of the Chinese military against Taiwan, an island governed autonomously since 1949 and considered by Beijing as a “rebel province.”
Beijing Threatens Retaliation
For its part, Chinese state television CCTV warned Tuesday that Lai “knows” that his stopover in the US “will inevitably be firmly opposed and effectively countered by the mainland,” and claimed he “colluded with external forces to build momentum internationally.”
The official outlet added that the “so-called customary practice” of stopovers by island leaders in US territory is an attempt by Lai to legitimize his trip and is “pushing Taiwan step by step into an even more dangerous situation.”
CCTV reiterated that any transit of Taiwanese leaders through the US “constitutes a serious challenge to the ‘one-China principle,'” an argument repeated in recent days by spokespersons for the Chinese foreign ministry and Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
“The United States also knows that it is no small matter” to allow Lai to stop over on its territory, “so it only allows (him) to through Hawaii and Guam, which are far away from the mainland,” said the channel, which added that Lai “stands on the opposite side of public opinion” on the island.
“’Taiwan independence’ and peace in the Taiwan Strait are incompatible. If there is ‘Taiwan independence’, there will be no peace in the Taiwan Strait,” the outlet concluded.
Tsai Ming-yen, director of Taiwan’s National Security Office, said on Wednesday that an increase in the frequency of Beijing’s military exercises had been observed recently, “including the t air patrol between China and Russia last week.”
According to Tsai, these movements have two purposes: to test the “bottom line” of Washington and its allies during the US presidential transition and to divert attention away from China, where the “military continues to purge generals.” EFE
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