Beijing, Jun 28 (EFE).- Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu held a telephone conversation with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on Thursday, calling on the United States to “stop arming” Taiwan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press conference today that Ma “expressed China’s firm position on sensitive issues such as Taiwan, Tibet, the South China Sea and Ukraine” urging the United States to “respect China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.”
Mao said the Chinese vice minister stressed that the Taiwan issue is “of utmost importance to China and constitutes a red line in relations” between China and the United States.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Ma asked the United States to “recognize the separatist nature” of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP, the ruling party on the island) and its “serious threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
The Chinese representative demanded that the United States “end any form of support for separatist forces” in the western region of Tibet and stop “interfering in China’s internal affairs,” according to the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
According to a statement from the United States Department of State, Campbell noted during the conversation that his “deep concern about the destabilizing actions” of China in the South China Sea, where clashes between Philippine ships and the Chinese coast guard have been reported in disputed waters, and reaffirmed the North American country’s support for “freedom of navigation and overflight and the peaceful resolution of disputes, in accordance with international law.”
Campbell also emphasized the “importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” and reiterated his concern about alleged Chinese support for the Russian defense industry.
According to the State Department, the two sides also discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
The conversation occurred shortly after the approval, by the US State Department, of the possible sale of a combat drone and loitering missile system to Taiwan for a value of 360.2 million dollars (about 336 million euros), which marked the fifteenth sale of weapons to the island by the Administration of US President Joe Biden.
Chinese authorities consider the Taiwan issue to be a “red line” between Washington and Beijing, as the US is Taipei’s main arms supplier and could defend the island in the event of a conflict.
Taiwan – where the Chinese Nationalist army retreated after being defeated by communist troops in the civil war (1927-1949) – has been governed autonomously since the end of the war, although China claims sovereignty over the island, which it considers a rebel province for whose “reunification” it has not ruled out the use of force. EFE
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