Taiwan? China lodges formal protest with the US over Blinken’s reaction

“O The US State Department issued a statement on the elections in the Chinese province of Taiwan that seriously violated the ‘one China’ principle,” reads a statement released today by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, on Saturday congratulated the winner of the presidential elections in Taiwan, the anti-Beijing candidate William Lai, and said he hopes to work with Lai in the future and promote the long-standing “unofficial” bilateral relationship.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, these statements “seriously violated the US political commitment to maintain only cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the Taiwan region and sent a wrong signal to separatist forces seeking independence” for the island.

“China is very dissatisfied with what happened. The Taiwanese issue is at the heart of China’s interests and is the first red line that cannot be crossed in relations with the United States,” the statement reads.

According to him, the principle of ‘one China’ is the basic norm that governs the international relations of that Asian country and has “the consensus of the international community”.

“The Chinese side will always oppose any form of official exchange between the US and Taiwan and the US interfering in Taiwanese affairs in any way and under any pretext”, highlights the official note.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry also urges Washington not to try to use the Taiwan issue “as a tool to contain China” and to cut off all official contacts with Taipei.

On Saturday, Blinken congratulated Lai on his victory, in a statement in which he also said that the US is committed to “peace and stability” in the region.

“We look forward to working with Lai […] and promote our long-standing unofficial relationship, in line with the ‘one China’ policy”, the diplomat highlighted.

Hours later, US President Joe Biden reiterated his country’s opposition to Taiwan’s eventual independence when questioned by journalists in Washington about the results of the Taiwanese elections.

The Taiwanese issue is one of the main points of friction between Beijing and Washington, since the US is the island’s main arms supplier and is assumed to defend it in the event of a conflict with China.

Taiwan on Saturday cemented its commitment to sovereignty with the election of until now vice president and candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party (PDP), William Lai (Lai Ching-te), as president for the next four years, in an electoral result that suggests an even greater worsening of tensions with China, which considers this territory a rebel province.

The official candidate received 40.05% of the votes, surpassing the opposition candidates from the Kuomintang (KMT), Hou Yu-ih (33.49% of the votes), and the Taiwan People’s Party (PPT), Ko Wen-Heh ( 26.46%).

After announcing his victory, Lai assured that these elections demonstrated to the international community that, between “democracy and authoritarianism”, the Taiwanese chose to remain “on the side of democracy”.

Taiwan has been governed autonomously since 1949, although China claims sovereignty over the island, which it considers a rebellious province and for whose “reunification” it does not rule out the use of force.

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