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AP
Taiwan has been among the success stories in the battle against the coronavirus.
China has largely criticized New Zealand’s support for Taiwan joining the World Health Organization, saying that “wrong comments” could damage relations between countries.
But New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters says he is not concerned that a growing war of words will harm relations, and he does not regret telling the Chinese ambassador that he needed to “listen to his teacher.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lihan said at a press conference on Monday that China “deplores and opposes” New Zealand’s position, and that “no one should harbor any illusions when it comes to related matters with China’s central interests. “
“We hope that certain people in New Zealand will stop spreading rumors and create problems and work to improve rather than undermine bilateral mutual trust and cooperation,” Lihan said.
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Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand supports an effort to get Taiwan to join the WHO as an observer.
Peters said Thursday that Taiwan had been a “remarkable global success story at Covid-19,” and that New Zealand had joined others in calling for the island nation to join the World Health Organization (WHO) as an observer. .
Supporting construction for Taiwan to join the WHO has angered China, which strongly believes that Taiwan lacks sovereignty and is part of China’s territory.
Beijing rejects diplomatic relations with countries that consider Taiwan as a sovereign nation, part of a strategy called “one-China policy”.
Lihan said Monday that the one-China policy “must be observed,” and said Taiwan was using the outbreak to seek independence.
“The one-China principle is the political foundation of China-New Zealand relations … China urges New Zealand to strictly abide by the one-China principle and immediately stop its wrongful actions on Taiwan-related issues to avoid damaging relations bilateral “.
Lihan appeared to contradict a claim by Peters that talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had given him confidence that there would be no backsliding.
“I wonder how he came to that assumption. I want to point out that China is committed to developing friendly cooperative relations with New Zealand based on mutual respect and equality. But we are firmly determined to defend our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.”
Peters, at a press conference on financing the horse racing industry on Tuesday, said New Zealand had a responsibility “to our neighbors and, I dare say, to humanity.”
“We have to defend ourselves … All we are saying is, after carefully examining the whole world, to find examples of how we could help our defeat of Covid-19 internationally and locally, Taiwan has been a position -a the society.
“It is really impossible to understand why, for the sake of helping the international community that has already lost a quarter of a million people and will lose millions … that we would not try to find out why it happened, how it happened, then we can do whatever we can internationally to make sure it doesn’t happen again. “
Last week, Peters said the Chinese ambassador to New Zealand, who pressured the government to withdraw its support for Taiwan, needed to “listen to his teacher.”
“I don’t regret that at all, because every ambassador should listen to their teacher,” Peters said Tuesday.
Peters said he had a long-standing relationship with the Chinese foreign minister and continued to trust the assurances he previously received from Yi.
