“Will not allow Taiwan to secede”: China tells us to handle the issue “prudently”

Beijing:

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday that Washington needs to approach the Taiwan issue “discreetly”, the ministry in Beijing said, as the pair met Donald Trump after Donald Trump took office. Had our first conversation since.

“We will never allow Taiwan to secede from China,” Wang said, adding that Washington “must not betray its promise” to pursue a one-China policy.

While Beijing had “no intention of surpassing or subverting any”, it maintained its “legitimate rights to development”, he said.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.

The United States is a longtime supporter of Taiwan and its largest supplier of arms, but it does not formally recognize it diplomatically.

The State Department has not yet commented on the Wang-Rubio talks.

But at his Senate confirmation hearing last week, Rubio said a “dangerous” China had cheated its way to superpower status and vowed to step up support to deter any invasion of Taiwan.

In his call, Wang told Rubio that the world’s top two economies should work to find “the right way to come together in the new era” — possibly referring to Trump’s return to the US presidency.

The Chinese minister said the pair should follow the leadership of China’s Xi Jinping and Trump, who “set the tone for relations to usher in a new critical juncture,” the ministry said.

The two sides should “maintain communication, manage differences, expand cooperation, and promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-US relations, the right way for China and the United States to come together in the new era.” Search” as Wang said.