Taiwan's President Tsai being greeted by a crowd outside her hotel in New York today.
Washington/Beijing/Taipei: Is it an official visit under the garb of transit? While China fumes at Tsai’s presence in the US, a debate rages on whether the stopovers of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in New York while on her way to a 10-day visit to Guatemala and Belize in Central America, and then in Los Angeles upon her return, be termed a “transit” in view of a schedule which also included a meeting between Tsai and Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
“Transits by high-level Taiwan authorities are not visits… Transits are taken out of consideration for the safety and comfort and convenience and dignity of the passenger and are consistent with our “one China” policy, which also remains unchanged. Transits are private and unofficial and they are not new. Every Taiwan president has transited the United States,” a US State Department Spokesperson sought to clarify.
However, Beijing retorted claiming the US and the Taiwan authorities made arrangements for Tsai to engage in political activities in the US and framed it as a “transit” to upgrade official exchanges and substantive relations with the Taiwan region.
“This seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, gravely undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and sends a seriously wrong message to “Taiwan independence” separatists. This once again shows that the fundamental cause of the new round of tensions in the Taiwan Strait is the Taiwan authorities’ repeated attempt to solicit US support for “Taiwan independence” and the fact that some in the US intend to use Taiwan to contain China,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing today. She said China will continue to closely follow the situation and resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
After reaching New York on March 29 (local time – March 30 Taipei time), Tsai met with the Taiwanese diaspora and delivered remarks. Earlier, before her departure from Taipei, she declared that Taiwan’s determination to engage with the world “will not be diminished by the pressures of expanding authoritarianism”.
China has warned of taking countermeasures if Speaker McCarthy meets with President Tsai which is likely to happen next week in California but the US stresses that the “transit” is private and unofficial and that it is consistent with longstanding US practice, the unofficial nature of its relations with Taiwan, and US policy, which Washington claims remains unchanged.
“President Tsai has transited the United States six times since taking office in 2016, and high-level officials have typically met with members of Congress, which is a separate and co-equal branch of government, and engage in other public and private activities during those transits,” a US State Department spokesperson pointed out, stressing that high-level Taiwan authorities have “typically met with members of Congress, and engaged in other public and private activities during past transits”.
However, McCarthy would become the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with a Taiwanese leader on American soil. Opposing any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region, China stated, “We firmly oppose any visit by a leader of the Taiwan region to the US in any name or under whatever pretext, and we firmly oppose the US government having any form of official contact with the Taiwan region. In disregard of China’s strong démarches and repeated warnings, the US insisted on arranging the so-called “transit” for Tsai Ing-wen to go to the US. China strongly protests and condemns that,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson stated in Beijing today.
“There’s no reason for Beijing to turn this transit, which is consistent with longstanding U.S. policy, into something it’s not or to overreact,” Patel said.
The US insists that its approach to Taiwan and transits by its senior authorities have remained consistent across decades and administrations and that it has a longstanding “one China” policy. However, it may be mentioned that the US “one China” policy is different from Beijing’s “one China” principle, and is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three U.S.-China Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances.
Washington made it clear that it opposed any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side and expects cross-Taiwan strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.
“We will deepen and expand our engagement with Taiwan in line with our “one China” policy. We believe that Taiwan is a reliable, like-minded, and democratic partner, and its partnerships around the world provide significant and sustainable benefits to citizens of those countries,” Patel said.
US intelligence community, while acknowledging the situation to be volatile, feel Beijing may find the meeting between Tsai and MacCarthy less provocative than the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022, when Chinese military forces fired missiles over Taiwan.
Incidentally, just before Tsai’s visit to Guatemala and Belize, another Central American nation, Honduras, switched its relations from Taiwan to China last week and announced the establishment of its diplomatic relations with China and that its President Xiomara Castro will visit China soon.
The US termed it as a “sovereign” decision of Honduras and stated that regardless of this decision, Washington will continue to expand its engagement with Taiwan in line with its longstanding “one China” policy.
Patel minced no words claiming that an important thing to note was that China “often makes promises in exchange for diplomatic recognition that ultimately remains unfulfilled”. He added: “And there are many recent ongoing examples of such behaviour in Latin America and around the world, whether it be projects for its Belt and Road Initiative, loans that end up saddling countries with very complicated and bad debt, partnerships and deepening of cooperation on infrastructure projects that end up bearing no benefit to job creation for the local economy, the local workforce.”
Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed yesterday that by lending to developing countries, China leaves them trapped in debt and that the US was working hard to counter China’s influence in international institutions and in lending to developing countries.
Beijing today rejected Washington’s “unjustified accusation”, and claimed that China always carried out investment and financing cooperation with developing countries based on international rules and the principle of openness and transparency.
“We never attach any political strings or seek any selfish political interests. We have been helping developing countries relieve debt burdens and made the biggest contribution to implementing the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative,” Mao Ning said. She referred to World Bank statistics, which she claimed, showed that multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors, accounting for more than 80% of the sovereign debt of developing countries, are the biggest source of stress on developing countries in terms of the debt payment.
Hitting back at the US, Ning said, “Since last year, the US has resorted to unprecedented massive interest rate hikes, making the debt problems of certain countries even worse. The US needs to take concrete steps to help developing countries, rather than point fingers at others”.
– global bihari bureau
