The Taiwan Strait is international waters, not “internal waters” as China claims, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, blasting Beijing’s attempts to challenge the rules-based international order.
“Taiwan has never been a problem; the problem lies in Chinese hegemony and expansionism,” ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) told a weekly news conference. “The problem is China’s repeated attempts to challenge the rules-based international order.”
“Taiwan has never been a part of the People’s Republic of China [PRC], and the Republic of China has never been ruled by the PRC,” he added.
Photo: CNA
Liu was responding to remarks by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian (林劍) on Monday when asked about US and Canadian warships transiting the Taiwan Strait on Sunday.
“The Taiwan problem is not a matter of ‘freedom of navigation,’ but of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Lin said.
“Taiwan is an inseparable part of China’s territory,” Lin said, adding that China firmly opposes any country provoking or threatening its sovereignty and security, in the name of “freedom of navigation.”
The US Navy’s 7th Fleet said on Monday that the destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver made a “routine” transit on Sunday “through waters where high-seas freedom of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”
“The ship transited through a high seas corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” the fleet’s statement said.
The transit through the Taiwan Strait “demonstrated the United States’ and Canada’s commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle,” it said.
“The international community’s navigational rights and freedoms in the Taiwan Strait should not be limited,” it added.
Liu yesterday said the ministry welcomed and appreciated the US and Canada for taking practical actions again to emphasize the Taiwan Strait’s legal status as international waters, and to firmly defend the right to freedom of navigation and regional stability.
Asked about South Africa’s demand that Taiwan relocate its liaison office in Pretoria by the end of this month, Liu said Taiwan refuses to accept such an unreasonable demand.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Monday told a legislative committee meeting that the ministry had informed the South African government that it has no plans to relocate the office as requested.
Reiterating Lin’s remarks, Liu said that South Africa’s action has breached an agreement it signed with Taiwan in 1997, in which the two sides agreed to allow each other’s liaison offices to operate in the other’s capital, after South Africa severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in January 1998 to establish relations with Beijing.
He added that the ministry and the liaison office have repeatedly tried to reason with the South African government, asking it to reconsider the decision, which “would harm the two countries’ relationship.”
Liu said Lin had also instructed Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Anthony Ho (賀忠義) to meet with the South African representative to Taiwan to convey the government’s protest, dissatisfaction and refusal to accede to the demand.
“The ministry is prepared for any eventuality,” he said, adding that the minister has held several meetings to discuss possible developments and corresponding measures.
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