Following the talks held between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s former president, Ma Ying-jeou, the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) slammed the Chinese leader for meeting the former president while failing to take any concrete steps to establish a dialogue with the current Taiwan government, reported Taiwan News.
Chinese President Xi Jinping held rare talks with the pro-China former president of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, on Wednesday, nearly a decade after their 2015 summit in Singapore.
The Chinese leader stressed that any external interference could not stop the reunion of the two countries.
The MOFA responded to their meeting, saying that what the Taiwanese are concerned about is China’s continuous escalation of military threats, diplomatic pressure, economic coercion, and attempts to unilaterally change the Taiwan Strait status quo.
The ministry further said that Beijing’s attempts to promote its stance on Taiwan through this meeting “cannot conceal China’s ambition to use the so-called ‘1992 Consensus’ to embody the ‘One China Principle’ and eliminate our country’s sovereignty,” reported Taiwan News.
It added that if China truly wishes to demonstrate goodwill towards Taiwan, it should “immediately cease all forms of coercion against Taiwan, acknowledge Taiwan’s mainstream public opinion, and restart dialogue with the democratically elected government of Taiwan to address differences and resolve issues on the premise of reciprocity.”
The MOFA underscored that Xi’s meeting with Ma coincided with a US-Japan summit and was on the eve of a US-Japan-Philippines summit.
It further urged Beijing to take concrete actions to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and promote the positive development of cross-strait relations, according to Taiwan News.
The ministry highlighted that this year marks the 45th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act and that in recent years, Taiwan, the US, and like-minded countries have worked together to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait.
It further pledged that Taiwan will continue to cooperate with countries including, US to jointly uphold this “hard-won achievement” and continue to safeguard regional peace and stability.
