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Chinese state media blast latest Pompeo move on Taiwan

Chinese state media blast latest Pompeo move on Taiwan

FILE: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the media prior to meeting with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah at the State Department in Washington. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP, File)

BEIJING: China's state media lashed out at the latest move on Taiwan by the departing Trump administration, accusing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of “seeking to maliciously inflict a long-lasting scar on China-U.S. ties.”

A writer for the official Xinhua News Agency also said in a commentary Sunday (Jan 10) that the lifting of longstanding restrictions on US government contacts with Taiwanese counterparts proves that Pompeo “is only interested in stoking unwarranted confrontations, and has no interest in world peace”.

Another commentary posted online by CGTN, the English-language channel of state broadcaster CCTV, called Pompeo's announcement “a cowardly act of sabotage" of the next US administration.

“The Trump administration, in its continuing efforts to burn the house down before leaving office, has crossed a dangerous red line with China days before incoming President Joe Biden takes office,” the commentary read in part.

Biden takes office on Jan 20.

There was no immediate comment from the Chinese government on Pompeo's decision to end State Department restrictions on how US officials can interact with Taiwan, which he said had been implemented to appease the Communist regime in Beijing.

READ: Pompeo lifts restrictions on US-Taiwan relationship as clock runs out on Trump administration

“No more,” Pompeo declared in a statement Saturday. “Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed restrictions.”

Taiwan is a sensitive issue for China's ruling Communist Party, which considers the self-governing island of 23.6 million people a renegade province that should be brought under its rule.

Under the one-China policy, the US recognises Beijing as the government of China and doesn't have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. However, it maintains unofficial contacts including a de facto embassy in Taipei, the capital, and supplies military equipment for the island's defence.

Taiwan's leaders welcomed Pompeo's announcement.

“We are expressing our gratitude toward the US for speaking out and supporting Taiwan,” Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters. "We also hope to interact actively with each other further, so that Taiwan could have an even bigger space in the international society.”

He and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, who thanked Pompeo on Twitter, emphasised the values of freedom and democracy shared by Taiwan and the US - a contrast to China’s authoritarian one-party state.

Pompeo's announcement came two days after he said he would send Kelly Craft, the US ambassador to the United Nations, to Taiwan for meetings this week. She is due to arrive on Wednesday.

READ: Beijing says Washington to pay 'heavy price' if UN ambassador goes to Taiwan

READ: China says it will respond to planned Taiwan, US defence talks

Craft's trip follows one by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in August, the first Cabinet member to visit Taiwan since 2014, and another by Under Secretary of State Keith Krach in September.

China, which opposes Taiwan having its own foreign relations, sharply criticises all such interaction. It stepped up aerial patrols off Taiwan last year and used its diplomatic clout to block Taiwan from participating in international forums, such as the World Health Organization's annual meeting.

Hu Xijin, the editor of China's state-owned Global Times newspaper, tweeted that if Pompeo's announcement is the new starting point for America's Taiwan policy, it will also mark the start of the countdown for the survival of Taiwan's government.

“(China's) fighter jets can fly over Taiwan island anytime,” he tweeted. “The option of using military means to solve (the) Taiwan question will also be put on the table.”

READ: Taiwan says Chinese jets made record 380 incursions in 2020

Pompeo said that the US maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world, and that Taiwan is no exception.

Source: AP/ta

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