TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Wednesday (April 10) slammed Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) for meeting with former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) while failing to take any concrete steps to establish a dialogue with the current government.
On Wednesday, Ma met with Xi in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, nearly a decade after their 2015 summit in Singapore. MOFA responded by saying that what the Taiwanese are concerned about is China's continuous escalation of military threats, diplomatic pressure, economic coercion, and attempts to unilaterally change the Taiwan Strait status quo.
MOFA said Beijing's attempts to promote its stance on Taiwan through this meeting “cannot conceal China's ambition to use the so-called ‘1992 Consensus’ to embody the ‘One China Principle’ and eliminate our country's sovereignty.”
The ministry said that if China truly wishes to demonstrate goodwill toward Taiwan, it should “immediately cease all forms of coercion against Taiwan, acknowledge Taiwan's mainstream public opinion, and restart dialogue with the democratically elected government of Taiwan to address differences and resolve issues on the premise of reciprocity.”
MOFA noted that Xi's meeting with Ma coincided with a U.S.-Japan summit and was on the eve of a U.S.-Japan-Philippines summit. It urged Beijing to take concrete actions to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and promote the positive development of cross-strait relations.
The ministry pointed out this year marks the 45th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act and that in recent years, Taiwan, the U.S., and like-minded countries have worked together to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait. It pledged that Taiwan will continue to cooperate with countries such as the U.S. to jointly uphold this “hard-won achievement” and continue to safeguard regional peace and stability.
