BEIJING • China has urged the United States not to allow Taiwan’s leader to travel through American territory en route to the Pacific, a sensitive trip coming ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing early next month..
BEIJING • China has urged the United States not to allow Taiwan’s leader to travel through American territory en route to the Pacific, a sensitive trip coming ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing early next month.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled to leave today on a week-long trip to three Pacific island allies – Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands – transiting via Honolulu and Guam.
Beijing sees Taiwan as a wayward province and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. It also considers Taiwan to be the most sensitive and important issue between Beijing and Washington, and always complains to the US about transit stops by Taiwanese leaders.
Ms Tsai’s trip comes less than two weeks before Mr Trump is due to visit China. He angered Beijing last December when he took a phone call from Ms Tsai shortly after he won the presidential election.
Yesterday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China has made „stern representations“ to the US over the matter, urging the US to strictly abide by the „one China“ policy.
China hopes the US does not allow Ms Tsai to transit and does not send any wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces, he told a news briefing. The US should instead „take real actions to protect the overall picture of China-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait“, he said.
