TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The South Korea government has summoned China’s ambassador to protest the Chinese foreign ministry’s response to its president’s remarks about Taiwan.
Yonhab News reported that on Thursday evening (April 20), the country’s First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin voiced a strong protest to Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming (邢海明). He said China should make efforts not to cause unnecessary hindrance to the development of South Korea-China relations on this issue.
South Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday (April 19) told Reuters in an interview that tensions across the Taiwan Strait “occurred because of the attempts to change the status quo by force, and we together with the international community absolutely oppose such a change.” He added, “The Taiwan issue is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue.”
In response, China foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) claimed the “Taiwan issue” is “purely China’s domestic politics.” He added, “Resolving the Taiwan issue is China's own business, there is no room for others to put in a word.”
He urged South Korea to “address the Taiwan issue with caution.”
The South Korean foreign ministry later issued a statement criticizing China’s response as a “diplomatic faux pax” that “makes people doubt China’s national character.”
