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BEIJING: China’s state media lashed out at the outgoing Trump administration’s latest move on Taiwan, accusing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of “maliciously trying to inflict a lasting scar on China-US ties.” .
A writer for the official Xinhua news agency also said in a comment on Sunday (January 10) that the lifting of long-standing restrictions on the US government’s contacts with its Taiwanese counterparts shows that Pompeo “is only interested in stoking confrontations. unjustified and has no interest in world peace. ” ”.
Another comment posted online by CGTN, the English-language channel of the state network CCTV, called Pompeo’s announcement “a cowardly act of sabotage” by the next US administration.
“The Trump administration, in its continued efforts to burn down the house before leaving office, has crossed a dangerous red line with China days before incoming President Joe Biden takes office,” the comment reads in part.
Biden will take office on January 20.
There was no immediate comment from the Chinese government on Pompeo’s decision to end State Department restrictions on how US officials can interact with Taiwan, which he said was implemented to appease the communist regime in Beijing.
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“No more,” Pompeo said in a statement Saturday. “Today I announce that I am going to lift all these self-imposed restrictions.”
Taiwan is a sensitive issue for the ruling Communist Party of China, which sees the autonomous island of 23.6 million people as a renegade province that should be brought under its rule.
Under the one-China policy, the United States recognizes Beijing as the government of China and does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. However, it maintains unofficial contacts, including a de facto embassy in Taipei, the capital, and supplies military equipment for the defense of the island.
Taiwanese leaders welcomed Pompeo’s announcement.
“We express our gratitude to the United States for speaking out and supporting Taiwan,” Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang told reporters. “We also hope to interact more actively with each other, so that Taiwan can have an even bigger space in international society.”
He and Chancellor Joseph Wu, who thanked Pompeo on Twitter, emphasized the values of freedom and democracy shared by Taiwan and the United States, a contrast to China’s authoritarian one-party status.
Pompeo’s announcement came two days after he said he would send Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to Taiwan for meetings this week. She should arrive on Wednesday.
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Craft’s trip follows that of Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar in August, the first cabinet member to visit Taiwan since 2014, and another of Undersecretary of State Keith Krach in September.
China, which is opposed to Taiwan having its own foreign relations, is harshly critical of all such interaction. He redoubled air patrols off Taiwan last year and used his diplomatic influence to prevent Taiwan from participating in international forums, such as the annual meeting of the World Health Organization.
Hu Xijin, editor of China’s state-run Global Times newspaper, tweeted that if Pompeo’s announcement is the new starting point for US policy on Taiwan, it will also mark the start of the countdown to the survival of the Taiwanese government.
“(China’s) fighter jets can fly over the island of Taiwan at any time,” he tweeted. “The option of using military means to resolve (the) Taiwan issue will also be put on the table.”
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Pompeo said the United States maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world and that Taiwan is no exception.
