China cuts off communication with Taiwan

Beijing

China, which regards Taiwan as wayward province, is deeply suspicious of Taiwan President Tsai Ingwen, who took office last month, as they suspect she will push for formal independence.

Tsai, who heads the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, says she wants to maintain the status quo with China and is committed to ensuring peace. But China has insisted she recognise something called the ‘1992 consensus’ reached between China’s Communists and Taiwan’s then-ruling Nationalists, under which both agreed there is only one China, with each having their  own interpretation of what that means.

In a brief statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that since May 20, when Tsai took office, Taiwan has not affirmed this consensus.

“Because the Taiwan side has not acknowledged the 1992 consensus, this joint political basis for showing the one China principle, the cross Taiwan Strait contact and communication mechanism has already stopped,” spokesman An Fengshan said. Tsai is currently on her first trip overseas as president, visiting diplomatic allies Panama and Paraguay, with transit stops both ways in the US.