Response by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines to the statement released by the Chinese Embassy spokesman

The Taipei economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines solemnly refutes the statement released by the Chinese embassy spokesman on the January 5, 2020, issue of the BusinessMirror in relation to an article entitled “The Chinese Agenda” published on December 28, 2019. The said statement wrongly claimed that Taiwan is not a sovereign country, and unilaterally propagandized the so-called one country, two systems model which has been rejected by the people in Taiwan.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign and independent country. It has never been under the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China. Taiwan has undergone a process of democratization, and its President and Legislature are directly elected by the people. It conducts its own foreign affairs independently; issues its own currency, passports, and visas; and exercises absolute and exclusive jurisdiction over its own territory. Taiwan’s sovereignty belongs to its people. The Taiwanese people can be represented only by their own democratically elected government. This is an indisputable, objective fact, as well as the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

The statement released by the Chinese embassy spokesman neglects the aforementioned facts. According to a poll conducted by the Taiwan’s Cross-Straits Policy Association in 2019, more than 80 percent of Taiwanese reject unification with mainland China under the Chinese Communist Party’s proposed “one country, two systems” model already in place in hong Kong and Macau.

President Tsai Ing-wen remains steadfast in her position that Taiwan utterly rejects the idea of one country, two systems. During her National Day address on October 10, 2019, she did not hesitate to point out the worsening conditions in hong Kong as she described it to be “on the verge of chaos” due to the failure of one country, two systems. She has urged her fellow citizens to disregard the proposed formula and to remain firm in the face of the growing challenges against Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Looking into the future, Taiwan will continue to uphold her values of freedom and democracy, work with like-minded countries to ensure that the peaceful and stable cross-strait status quo is not unilaterally altered, and will continue to actively engage with other nations in working toward prosperity and cooperation in the international stage.

Taiwan is definitely not a part of China!