China irked by new US guidelines on interactions with Taiwan

BEIJING: China on Tuesday expressed its displeasure over the new US guidelines for government interaction with Taiwanese counterparts, saying that the latest move runs counter to the political commitment Washington has made to Beijing on the Taiwan question.

Addressing a press briefing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian said, “The so-called guidelines for US government interaction with Taiwan counterparts blatantly encourages US government engagement with Taiwan, which severely violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques and runs counter to the serious political commitment the US has made to China on the Taiwan question.”
We urge the US side to grasp the situation and “refrain from playing with fire,” Lijian added.

This statement comes after the US State Department last week issued new guidelines to liberalise guidance on contacts with Taiwan and encourage US government engagement with Taiwan that reflects its deepening unofficial relationship.

These new guidelines liberalise guidance on contacts with Taiwan and provide clarity throughout the Executive Branch on effective implementation of Washington’s “one-China” policy.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday had issued a warning to China stating it would be a “serious mistake” for anyone to attempt to change Taiwan’s “status quo” amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over the island country’s sovereignty.

“What we have seen and what is a real concern to us is increasingly aggressive actions by the government in Beijing, directed at Taiwan, raising tensions in the straits. And we have a commitment to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, a bipartisan commitment that’s existed for many, many years, to make sure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself and to make sure that we’re sustaining peace and security in the Western Pacific. We stand behind those commitments,” Blinken said in an interview with NBC News, according to a transcript provided by the US Department of State.

Over the past few months, Taiwan has reported incursion by Chinese warplanes into ADIZ almost daily. On March 26, Taiwan reported the incursion of 20 Chinese warplanes. On Monday, Taiwan reported the biggest incursion by Chinese warplanes as over two dozen Chinese aircraft entered the Taiwanese air defence zone.

Last month, Taiwanese premier Su Tseng-chang termed the incursion by Chinese warplanes into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADZ) as “unnecessary” and “thoughtless”. (ANI)