Chinese FM lauds France’s backing to one-China policy

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi expressed appreciation for his French counterpart’s efforts on backing the one-China policy, emphasizing that the Taiwan question relates to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

An expert said on Friday that as the foundation of China’s diplomatic relations, one-China policy is not the bargaining chip.

Wang said during a phone call with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Thursday that China appreciates the minister’s striking stance on the one-China policy and would promote the bilateral ties to further respect and take care of each other’s core interests, according to a release on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

Ayrault said that France would make further efforts to keep the one-China policy since it related to the regional peace, read the release.

Ayrault told France 2 TV that Trump’s approach to China was “not very clever.”

And he said that “You can have disagreements with China but you don’t talk like that to a partner... When China feels like it is being questioned over the unity of China, it’s not necessarily very smart.”

Ayrault is the latest among senior figures to voice support for the one-China policy after US President-elect Donald Trump said that US doesn’t “have to be bound” by the one-China policy.

“These politicians want to differentiate themselves from Trump since the US has been considered as a leading player in the Western world. Countries which support the one-China policy respect China’s position in the international community and value their relations with China,” Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies under the China Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly expressed China’s position on Trump’s remarks, which would serve as a warning to countries which tried to bargain with China by talking about the Taiwan question, said Liu.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a regular briefing on Thursday that “some countries have reaffirmed their commitment to the one-China principle recently. We commend them for that. I want to reiterate that there is but one China in the world.”

“Taiwan is a part of China. The government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing China. Adherence to the one-China principle is the prerequisite and foundation for friendly cooperation between China and other countries,” said Geng.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Wednesday that Australia upholds the principle, and the country’s stance on the Taiwan question is unchanged.

“Australia’s position is as it has been since 1972, and that is, we recognize the one-China policy, and it has been important for peace (and) stability in our region for countries to continue to be consistent in this regard,” she said during an interview with Sky News Australia.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that her country, Europe’s biggest economic power, won’t be changing its one-China policy.