China asks the US not to “walk a dangerous path” in the question of Taiwan

Beijing, 15 Mar The director of the Foreign Affairs Committee Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Yang Jiechi, warned the US Government's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, that his country should not “walk a dangerous path” on the question of Taiwan. According to Chinese Foreign Ministry statements about the meeting, held this Monday in Rome, Yang stressed that the actions of the United States “do not correspond to its statements”, since the US country had pledged to “not support Taiwan's independence.” Yang condemned “any attempt to support Taiwan's separatist forces” and demanded that the United States recognize the “high sensitivity” of the Taiwanese question. Regarding the war conflict in Ukraine, Yang recalled that China “did not want this situation to happen” and showed support for the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. As Chinese diplomats have been declaring since the beginning of the Russian military offensive, Yang said that “the legitimate security concerns of all parties must be taken into account”, while calling on the parties involved “to exercise maximum restraint, protect civilians and avoid a humanitarian crisis.” Likewise, Yang expressed his rejection of “any word or action that spreads false information about China's position.” Recently, US media published that Russia had asked China for military aid, something that was denied on Monday by one of the spokesmen of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, who described it as “pure disinformation.” Yang also called for relations between the two powers to “adhere to the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and cooperation,” guidelines set by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his last videoconference meeting with his US counterpart, Joe Biden. The Chinese official noted that his country “does not allow interference by external forces” in internal matters, among which he cited Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Both sides agreed to strengthen their cooperation to bring relations between the two powers “back on the right track to develop in a stable and healthy way.” Taiwan is one of the biggest causes of conflict between China and the United States, mainly because Washington is Taiwan's main arms supplier and would be its greatest military ally in the event of a war conflict with China, which claims sovereignty over the island. Sources from the island's national security forces quoted by the local press recently warned that Beijing could take advantage of the situation in Ukraine to start a “cognitive war” that would aim to convince Taiwanese that the United States would “not honor its commitment to defend it” and “sow division.”