China Lashes Out at Visit by UK Trade Minister to Taiwan
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – China lashed out Monday over a visit to Taiwan by British Trade Policy Minister Greg Hands, the latest foreign official to defy Beijing’s warnings over contacts with the self-governing island.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and threatens to annex it by force. It also seeks to isolate it diplomatically, requiring governments that it has formal relations with to respect its “one-China" principle.
The UK should “earnestly respect China’s sovereignty, uphold the one-China principle, stop any forms of official contacts with Taiwan and stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily briefing, AP reported.
The British government said Hands was on a two-day visit during which he would meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and co-host the 25th annual trade talks between the sides. China has imposed visa bans and other forms of retaliation against foreign officials and governments that extend contacts to Taiwan.
Taiwan has formal diplomatic ties with just 14 nations and is excluded from the United Nations and other major multinational groupings at Beijing’s insistence.
Following a visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House and second in line to the presidency, China fired missiles over Taiwan into the Western Pacific and positioned aircraft and ships nearby in a virtual blockade of the island.
Referring to Tsai's ruling party and its strong backing from the US and other Western democracies, Zhao warned Taiwan officials that “their attempt to seek independence with foreign support is doomed to fail."