China Condemns US Delegation Visit to Taiwan as ‘Interference’ – News18

China on Thursday condemned a US delegation visit to Taiwan as “interference”, after the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on China arrived on the self-ruled island with four other lawmakers.

“China always resolutely opposes any form of official exchange between the United States and Taiwan authorities, and resolutely opposes the United States’ interference in Taiwan affairs in any way or under any pretext,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press conference.

Mike Gallagher heads the five-member delegation that met Thursday with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President Lai Ching-te, who won last month’s presidential election and will take office in May. “We urge the United States to recognise the extreme complexity and sensitivity of the Taiwan issue,” Mao said, urging the US to adhere to the “one-China principle” and stop official exchanges with Taiwan.

The chairman of the US House of Representatives committee on China said Thursday that support in his country’s legislature for Taiwan was “extremely strong”, after a meeting with the self-ruled island’s top leadership. “I actually think support for Taiwan in the United States Congress… I see growing and extremely strong support for Taiwan,” Gallagher told reporters.

The United States is Taiwan’s most important ally, and the island has been at the centre of tensions with China, which claims it as its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under Beijing’s control. Gallagher, a vocal critic of China, added that he believed US support for Taiwan would be unaffected by the result of his country’s 2024 presidential election.

“I am very confident that support for Taiwan will continue regardless of who occupies the White House,” he said. He also warned Beijing against any attempt to invade Taiwan, saying to do so would be “incredibly foolish”. “If Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party were to ever make the incredibly foolish decision to attempt an invasion of Taiwan… that effort would fail,” he said during the meeting with Lai. Earlier, President Tsai welcomed the US lawmakers, saying the visit demonstrated “staunch US support for Taiwan’s democracy through concrete action”.

“We will continue to advance our international partnerships and engage with the world. In 2024, we hope to see even more Taiwan-US exchanges in a range of domains,” she said. The delegation will stay until Saturday as part of a larger visit to the region, the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington’s de facto embassy in Taipei said in a statement.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)