China’s sovereignty not a ‘bargaining chip’, says Beijing’s US ambassador
Cui Tiankai tells American company executives China and US must work to strengthen relationship and ‘national sovereignty and territorial integrity are not bargaining chips’
In a veiled warning to US President-elect Donald Trump, China’s ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday that Beijing would never bargain with Washington over issues involving its national sovereignty or territorial integrity.
Ambassador Cui Tiankai, speaking to executives of top American companies, said China and the United States needed to work to strengthen their relationship.
Basic norms of international relations should be observed, not ignored – certainly not be seen as something you can trade off ... indeed, national sovereignty and territorial integrity are not bargaining chips
“The political foundation of China-US relations should not be undermined. It should be preserved,” Cui said.
“And basic norms of international relations should be observed, not ignored – certainly not be seen as something you can trade off,” he said.
“And indeed, national sovereignty and territorial integrity are not bargaining chips. Absolutely not. I hope everybody would understand that.”
He did not specifically mention Taiwan, or Trump’s comments last weekend that the US did not necessarily have to stick to its nearly four-decade policy of recognising that Taiwan was part of “one-China”.
Cui’s remarks were in line with recent protests from China’s Foreign Ministry, which regards the one-China principle as the “political basis” for US-China ties.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. China considers Taiwan independence a red line issue.
On Thursday, China’s influential state-run tabloid the Global Times said China needed to take the lead in deciding the island’s future.
“It is hoped that peace in the Taiwan Straits won’t be disrupted,” it said in an editorial.
“But the Chinese mainland should display its resolution to recover Taiwan by force. Peace does not belong to cowards.”
Trump, in an interview on the Sunday television programme, Fox News Sunday, suggested that the US position on Taiwan could become part of his pledge to negotiate more favourable trade terms with China.
“I fully understand the one-China policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a one-China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump said.
His comments came after he prompted a diplomatic protest from China over his decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on December 2.
US corporate executives are increasingly pessimistic about their business prospects in China in light of tough restrictions on foreign investment in the country’s vast service sector, new cyber-security regulations that favor domestic technologies and weak enforcement of intellectual property protections.
Earlier on Wednesday, news that Chinese officials may penalise an unnamed US carmaker for monopolistic pricing behaviour pushed down shares of General Motors and Ford Motor Co.
Cui did not mention the carmaker case, but said: “China will ensure that there is a level playing field, for all companies, in China, both domestic and foreign.”
