China could not remain without reaction to the visit to the United States of William Lai, the vice-president of Taiwan, an island territory claimed by Beijing.
“China is closely monitoring the development of the situation and will take firm and forceful measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday (August 13th). .
China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces, which it has yet to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. It says it favors “peaceful reunification” with the territory, now governed by a democratic system, but it has never renounced the use of military force to achieve this.
William Lai posted a photo of himself on Sunday on X (new name for Twitter), saying he had arrived in New York. Officially, according to Taiwan, he must simply “transit” through the United States – like Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in early April – before traveling to Paraguay to witness the inauguration of the new president, Santiago Peña. Paraguay is one of the last countries to officially recognize Taipei. Mr. Lai must stop in New York on the way there, then in San Francisco on the way back.
“Connivance”
China sees with dissatisfaction the rapprochement in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and certain Western countries, in particular the United States, seeing it as a threat to its territorial integrity because these meetings bring a form of legitimacy to the Taiwanese authorities.
“China firmly opposes any form of official contact between the United States and Taiwan and firmly opposes any separatists advocating Taiwanese independence visiting the United States,” the ministry said. of Chinese foreign affairs. “Washington and Taipei colludedly allow William Lai to engage in political activities in the United States under the guise of transit,” which “seriously undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said he pointed out.
William Lai is a candidate to succeed the current president, Tsai Ing-wen. Both from a militant party traditionally for independence, they are as such regularly vilified by Beijing.
The Chinese army had organized three-day maneuvers around the island in April in response to a meeting in the United States between the speaker of the American House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy and Ms. Tsai.
