- Title: China urges US not to allow Taiwan President to make stopover visit
- Date: 29th December 2016
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (DECEMBER 29, 2016) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN HUA CHUNYING WALKING IN FOR REGULAR BRIEFING VARIOUS OF MEDIA SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN HUA CHUNYING SAYING: "I think everyone is very clear about the Taiwanese leader's real intentions in passing through the U.S. We hope the the U.S. can abide by the one-China policy and the principle of three China-U.S. joint communiques, and not let her pass through their border, not give any wrong signals to Taiwan's independence forces, and through concrete actions safeguard overall U.S.-China relations, and peace and stability in the Taiwan straits." BRIEFING IN PROGRESS EXTERIOR OF CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING
- Embargoed: 13th January 2017 08:30
- Keywords: Taiwan USA China Tsai Ing-wen president visit
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- City: BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0015EXROZR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:China on Thursday (December 29) urged the U.S. not to allow Taiwan's president to pass through in the country when Tsai Ing-wen visits Latin America next month.
Tsai's office earlier this month said she would visit Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador in that order. She will leave Taiwan on January 7 and return on January 15.
China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, who it thinks wants to push for the formal independence of Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing regards as a renegade province, ineligible for state-to-state relations.
"I think everyone is very clear about the Taiwanese leader's real intentions in passing through the U.S. We hope the U.S. can abide by the one-China policy and the principle of three China-U.S. joint communiques, and not let her pass through their border, not give any wrong signals to Taiwan's independence forces, and through concrete actions safeguard overall U.S.-China relations, and peace and stability in the Taiwan straits," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told media at a daily briefing in Beijing.
The transit details are being closely watched as Taiwan media has speculated Tsai will seek to meet President-elect Donald Trump's transition team ahead of his January 20 inauguration.
Trump angered China when he spoke to Tsai this month in a break with decades of precedent and cast doubt on his incoming administration's commitment to Beijing's "one China" policy.
The United States, which switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, has acknowledged the Chinese position that there is only "one China" and that Taiwan is part of it.
Taiwan had as many as 30 diplomatic allies in the mid-1990s, but now has formal relations with just 21, mostly smaller and poorer nations in Latin America and the Pacific. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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