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Taiwan, US exchange diplomatic visits
Top Taiwan official to visit key ally, the United States, after independence-leaning DPP’s landslide election victory, despite China’s warning.
Taipei
A senior member of Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will visit the United States after the party’s landslide election win at the weekend, underscoring the importance of ties with its major ally and source of arms.
The visit by DPP secretary general Joseph Wu, comes after an increasingly assertive China warned Taiwan in the wake of the election to abandon its “hallucination” about independence.
Tsai Ing-wen’s DPP won convincingly in presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday that could usher in a new round of instability with China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own.
China has never renounced the use of force to take back what it deems a renegade province, particularly if it makes moves toward independence.
The Global Times, an influential tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily in China, said in an editorial on Monday Tsai should consider the opinions of China’s 1.3 billion people as well as Taiwan’s own people when it came to relations across the Taiwan Strait.
“Trying to use chips like ‘Taiwan public opinion’ to guide cross-Strait relations is not only unrealistic, it is also dangerous. Tsai Ing-wen should not instil this illusion into Taiwan society,” the editorial said. “The mainland has patience when it comes to the Taiwan issue, but it also has principles and a bottom line,” it said.
A rapid exchange of Taiwanese and US diplomats after the election highlights the importance Taipei places on its ties with Washington, which has congratulated Tsai on her victory.
Wu is the DPP’s senior national security official and will deliver a keynote speech discussing the aftermath of the vote at a think tank in Washington on Tuesday, although the DPP described his trip as “routine” and gave no other details. Former US Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Ray Burghardt met DPP officials on Monday. The AIT is the de facto US embassy in Taipei in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.
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