“Stop official contact with Taiwan and stop sending any wrong signal to the separatist forces for ‘Taiwan independence.’”
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning at her indignant best, demanding that the visit by a US congressional delegation to Taiwan on Wednesday was uncalled for. RT reports that she urged Washington on Friday to consider the “extreme complexity and sensitivity of the Taiwan question. China opposes any form of official interaction between the US and Taiwan authorities and rejects US interference in Taiwan affairs in whatever form or under whatever pretext,” she said.
According to the RT report the visiting US delegation made it clear during a briefing in Taipei that “the United States, Democrats and Republicans, stands with Taiwan, for your freedom and for ours.”
President Tsai Ing-wen who remains in office until May 20 (when William Lai Ching-te will become the island’s leader), responded that Taiwan will “continue to advance our international partnerships and engage with the world.”
The delegation is expected to call on Lai, which can be expected to incense Beijing every further. China is already fuming given a spate of reports in the Taiwanese press that the US State Department has approved the sale of arms to Taiwan worth around $75 million during the visit of the delegation. This includes advanced communications and logistics gear.
According to these reports, the proposed sale will require an estimated 200 US government personnel and 200 US contractor representatives to travel to Taiwan to provide technical support services.
But it’s interesting to note that China’s response to this delegation’s visit has seen less of the kind of fire and fury when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022. Beijing had then dispatched warships and military aircraft and fired ballistic missiles into the waters. This time protests have been largely pro-forma and for the record.
