China warns against ties with Taiwan
China warns against ties with Taiwan
BEIJING (Reuter): China yesterday warned other countries to be alert against attempts by Taiwan to break out of diplomatic isolation and boost its international standing.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang warned of possible damage to relations with China if countries that recognize Beijing sanction visits by Taiwanese government officials, and mentioned the United States by name.
"The Taiwan authorities...now are unceasingly taking opportunities to create two Chinas...in particular by visits to other countries," Shen told a news briefing.
Asked about overseas visits by Taiwan Vice-President Lien Chan, currently traveling in Europe, Shen lashed out at the island that Beijing has regarded as a rebel province since the end of their civil war in 1949.
"Their purpose is very clear, they want to expand their international space and continue to engage in activities of 'two Chinas' or 'One China, One Taiwan,' he said, referring to what Beijing sees as a bid by Taiwan to move toward independence.
"They should not damage relations with China because of the Taiwan issue," he added.
Shen then cited the United States. "I want to stress that recently the United States has sold weapons to Taiwan," he said, and alleged that the sale violated three Washington communiques with Beijing under which the United States pledged to gradually reduce weapons sales to Taiwan.
Taiwan took delivery on Wednesday of four launch vehicles for U.S.-made Patriot missiles, part of its drive to improve its defenses in the face of China's army modernization.
A private visit by Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui to the United States in June 1995 sent Sino-U.S. relations into a tailspin from which they have begun to recover only recently.
Beijing has sought to push Taiwan into diplomatic isolation in its quest to bring the island under its rule. Taiwan has responded with trips -- open or secret -- by its leaders to countries that recognize Beijing but not Taipei.
Meanwhile in Taipei local news reports yesterday said that Taiwan is spending T$3.2 billion (US$116 million) a year to promote international contacts and counter a diplomatic embargo enforced by rival China.
The United Evening News, without naming its sources, said a T$1 billion ($36 million) fund was listed under a secret portion of the Foreign Ministry's annual budget and billed vaguely as "international affairs promotion fees".
Other Taiwan agencies doled out an additional T$2.2 billion ($80 million) in publicly undisclosed foreign aid, it said.
The report quoted a senior official as saying Taiwan's secret budget was "pitiful" compared with those of other countries, noting that the money was less than 0.1 percent of the island's gross domestic product.
Most of the money went to Taiwan's 30 diplomatic allies, chiefly underdeveloped states in Africa and Central America, the newspaper said.
The Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report.
Taiwan and China have accused each other of playing "checkbook diplomacy" to woo friends.
Foreign Minister John Chang, on an official visit to Malawi, on Wednesday donated $4 million to that southern African country to build houses for soldiers.
Taipei also vowed to do "whatever it can" to help Guatemala after China's controversial United Nations Security Council veto last Friday barred UN observers from monitoring a Guatemalan peace pact.
It was Beijing's only veto in 25 years as a UN member. Taiwan lost the sole UN China seat to Beijing in 1971.