Spokesman: ‘Medal’ for US official ‘political farce’

A Chinese mainland spokesman said on Wednesday that it’s a “political farce” that the Democratic Progressive Party administration in Taiwan gave United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi one of the island’s most important “medals” during her trip to Taiwan.

Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remark after the island’s leader Tsai Ing-wen gave the “Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon” to Pelosi on Wednesday morning during a meeting in Taipei.

Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, a former CIA director who once said of the agency, “We lied, we cheated, we stole” — had been given a similar “medal” by the DPP, Ma said.

“What a political farce, the DPP ‘awarded’ a medal to Pelosi,” he said.

“The DPP has been going down the road of relying on the US to seek ‘independence’, making a series of bad deeds of servitude,” he said, warning that the administration will have to pay an increasingly unbearable price, and its efforts will end in failure.

Despite strong opposition from Beijing, Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday evening and departed the island on Wednesday afternoon. Pelosi, the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in a quartercentury, expressed support for the DPP administration.

Ma condemned Tsai and the DPP administration for stubbornly promoting Pelosi’s trip, saying they stand in opposition to the Chinese nation.

For a long time, Tsai and her administration have colluded with foreign anti-China forces and engaged in separatist activities for “Taiwan independence” at the international level, putting peace in the Taiwan Straits and the safety of the people in Taiwan at risk, he said.

The Taiwan Affairs Office announced on Wednesday morning the punishment of organizations related to die-hard elements seeking “Taiwan independence”, naming two island organizations — the “Taiwan Foundation for Democracy” and the “International Cooperation and Development Fund”.

The organizations have wantonly carried out “Taiwan independence” separatist activities under the guise of “democracy” and “cooperation and development”, Ma said. “They have gone all out to ingratiate themselves with foreign anti-China forces.”

They have also attacked and smeared the mainland, and used money and other means as bait to expand the so-called “international space” of Taiwan, attempting to undermine international support for the one-China principle, he said.

The mainland has decided to take punitive measures against the foundations, banning them from cooperating with mainland organizations, enterprises or individuals, according to the office.

The mainland will also punish, in accordance with the law, any organizations, enterprises or individuals offering funds or services to the foundations, and take other necessary measures, the office said.

Mainland organizations, enterprises and individuals will be prohibited from any transaction or cooperation with enterprises, including Speedtech Energy, Hyweb Technology, Skyla and SkyEyes GPS Technology, that have donated money to the foundations.

There is a clear legal basis for China to hold the die-hard elements seeking “Taiwan independence” criminally accountable, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee said, adding that the mainland will take measures to punish them.

Leng Bo, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Taiwan Studies, said the announcement of the punishment of “Taiwan independence” separatists and related organizations shows that any individual or organization that pursues “Taiwan independence” will pay a price and be punished.

“It is believed that the measures will have a great deterrent effect on the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces,” he said, adding that this will make Taiwan’s organizations and individuals know what they can and cannot do.