China hits back after South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol says Taiwan is a ‘global issue’

Chinese foreign ministry rebukes Yoon and urges Seoul to act with caution on Taiwan
Remarks come ahead of Yoon’s visit to Washington next week

Taiwan

Vanessa Caiin Shanghai

Published: 7:39pm, 20 Apr, 2023

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The Chinese foreign ministry rejected suggestions from the South Korean president that both Taiwan and North Korea are global issues, and called on Seoul to act with caution over the island.

The nature of the Korean peninsula issue and the Taiwan issue were “completely different and not comparable at all, and this is a well-known fact”, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday, adding that North and South Korea were sovereign states that were both members of the United Nations.

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Wang called on Seoul to “abide by the one-China principle and handle the Taiwan issue prudently”.

The statements came after South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol commented on the heightened tensions over the Taiwan Strait in an interview with Reuters, ahead of his planned state visit to the United States next week.

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“After all, these tensions occurred because of the attempts to change the status quo by force, and we together with the international community absolutely oppose such a change,” Yoon was quoted as saying.

“The Taiwan issue is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue,” he said.

Yoon’s comments came after the Chinese military’s latest drills around Taiwan and continued military presence in the Taiwan Strait, following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with the US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California earlier this month. Beijing repeatedly warned that the meeting was a challenge against its sovereignty.

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Beijing has not ruled out using force to take control of the self-ruled island, which it regards as a breakaway province, and has claimed it will eventually reunite Taiwan with the Chinese mainland. Most countries do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state but are opposed to any forceful change in the status quo.

Yoon will visit the US from April 24-29 and meet his counterpart Joe Biden at a summit on April 26, according to Yonhap News Agency. He will also meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Vice-President Kamala Harris and US military leaders.

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In response to a reporter’s question on Yoon’s remarks, Wang repeated that Taiwan was “an inseparable part of China’s territory”, and that the Taiwan issue was “purely an internal affair” and “the core of China’s core interests”.

Wang blamed separatist activities “supported and connived by foreign forces” as the cause of the tension in the Taiwan Strait in recent years, and warned against “Taiwan independence separatists” and “external interference”.

Last year, Yoon criticised China’s military activities in the Taiwan Strait following the large-scale drills around the island in August in response to then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit. But he noted that the North Korean issue would remain Seoul’s top security priority even in the event of conflict over Taiwan.

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