China Warns United States Against Official Contact With Taiwanese Leaders
Jose Nino
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On March 30, 2023, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning announced at a press briefing that China is strongly against any United States political officials visiting Taiwanese officials.
“China strongly opposes any form of official communication between the United States and the island of Taiwan,” Mao Ning stated.
In this statement, China is against the establishment of any form of official diplomatic ties between US and Taiwan in addition to any contact between the US and Taiwan that is in violation of the One China policy.
The US’s growing defense cooperation and political ties with Taiwan have alarmed China. The Chinese government has pointed out on multiple occasions that Taiwan is an integral part of China. Chinese authorities have called on the US to stick to the principles outlined by the One China policy.
Ever since the Nationalists were defeated by the Communists in 1949 during the Chinese Communist Revolution (1945-1949) Taiwan has been locally governed in practice. However, the majority of the international community treats Taiwan as one of China’s provinces.
Beginning in 1979, the US cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan and formally recognized the mainland government as the official government of China. On paper, the US has kept this One China policy in place since 1979. However, in recent years it has sought to scrap it by gradually making moves to recognize the island’s independence and providing it with arms.
With the US now trying to contain China and turning Taiwan into a battering ram against it, it appears that a clash between the two great powers is inevitable. Cooler heads will need to prevail here to avoid a geopolitical tragedy. This requires a balanced America First approach that stresses immigration restriction and economic nationalism while rejecting fanatic militarism.
At this point, the US will need a totally different foreign policy elite for that to ever occur.
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