China tells Biden not follow Trump and back Taiwan
CHINA’S FOREIGN minister has warned the Biden administration to roll back former US President Donald Trump’s “dangerous practice” of showing support for Taiwan, the island democracy which Beijing claims is its own territory.
The claim to Taiwan, which split with the mainland in 1949, is an “insurmountable red line”, Wang Yi said at a news conference during the annual meeting of China’s ceremonial legislature.
The United States has no official relations with Taiwan but extensive informal ties.
Mr Trump angered Beijing by sending Cabinet officials to visit Taiwan in a show of support.
“The Chinese government has no room for compromise,” Mr Wang said.
“We urge the new US administration to fully understand the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue” and “completely change the previous administration’s dangerous practices of ‘crossing the line’ and ‘playing with fire’,” he said.
President Joe Biden has said he wants a more civil relationship with Beijing but has shown no sign of softening Mr Trump’s confrontational measures on trade, technology and human rights.
Surveys show American public attitudes turning more negative towards China, which is seen as an economic and strategic competitor.
Mr Wang gave no indication as to how Beijing might react if Mr Biden does not change course, but the ruling Communist Party has threatened to invade if Taiwan declares formal independence or delays talks on uniting with the mainland.
Mr Wang’s comments in a wide-ranging, two-hour news conference reflected Beijing’s increasing assertiveness abroad and rejection of criticism over Hong Kong, the northwestern region of Xinjiang and other sensitive topics. He defended proposed changes in Hong Kong that will tighten Beijing’s control by reducing the role of its public in government, and dismissed complaints that they will erode the autonomy promised to the former British colony when it returned to China in 1997.
The changes announced on Friday follow the arrest of 47 prodemocracy figures in Hong Kong under a national security law imposed last year.
The proposals would give a proBeijing committee a bigger role in picking Hong Kong legislators, which would be a marked reduction of democracy and Westernstyle civil liberties in Hong Kong.