Hailed by Taiwan, this visit by American parliamentarians must last until Monday. China responds with anger.
Le Monde with AFP
This is a visit that was not announced. American parliamentarians – a senator and four representatives, democrats and a republican – will notably meet the president Tsai Ing -Wen and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This delegation from the US Congress arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, and will remain until Monday, August 15, according to the American Institute in Taiwan, the United States Embassy on the island.
The visit occurs a few days after the end of large military maneuvers, the most important ever made by Beijing around Taiwan. The response had been triggered by a visit to the president of the American House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who had made China furious. The country estimates that Taiwan, populated by around 23 million inhabitants, is one of its provinces, which it has not yet managed to combine with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war ( 1949).
Again, China responds with anger. The official Xinhua agency published a comment with the title: “American politicians should stop playing with fire on Taiwan’s question”. Conversely, the Taiwanese Minister for Foreign Affairs has praised the American decision in a statement:
“While China continues to raise tensions in the region, the US Congress again sent a high -level delegation to Taiwan, thus demonstrating a friendship that is not frightened by the threats of China and underlines the resolved support of the United States towards Taiwan “.
Taipei, capital of Taiwan, accused China of having taken the pretext of the visit of Nancy Pelosi to train in an invasion. In response, the United States has reaffirmed its commitment to the region: American parliamentarians will discuss “relations between the United States and Taiwan, regional security, trade and investment, climate change issues”, After a press release from the American Institute.
22 planes and six Chinese ships operating near the Taiwan Strait
American officials frequently go to this island, but China had judged that Ms. Pelosi’s visit, the highest American official to go to the island for decades, was a major provocation. Opposed to any initiative giving the Taiwanese authorities an international legitimacy, Beijing is a standing wind against any official contact between Taiwan and other countries.
Faced with the maneuvers launched by Beijing In retaliation, Taiwan had organized his own exercises, then simulating the organization of his defense in the face of a Chinese invasion. Beijing only ended his exercises after reiterating his threats to Taipei and declared that she would continue to patrol in the Taiwan Strait.
In its daily point, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said that it had detected 22 planes and six Chinese ships operating near the Strait. 11 Airplanes have exceeded the midline, an unofficial demarcation between Taiwan and China that Beijing does not recognize.
How Beijing plans to take over the island
The Taiwan Bureau of Affairs, a Chinese government organization, published a “white paper” detailing the way in which Beijing plans to take over the island, in particular via economic incentives on Wednesday. He is registered:
“We are willing to create a vast space (of cooperation) in order to achieve peaceful reunification. But we will not leave any room for maneuver to separatist actions with the objective of a pseudo-independence of Taiwan. The force would be used in Last recourse, in the event of imperative circumstances. We would be forced to take drastic measures in the face of provocations of separatists or external forces, if they came to cross our red lines “.
The last white paper on Taiwan published by China dates back to 2000.
Washington replied on Friday by announcing a strengthening of its commercial relations with Taiwan and new air and sea passages in the Strait, in response to “provocative” actions of China.