China is the real threat, Taiwan says in rebuff to Munich speech
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned at the Munich Security Conference that some countries were "trying to split Taiwan from China".
· CNA · JoinRead a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
TAIPEI: China is the real threat to security and is hypocritically claiming to uphold UN principles of peace, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Sunday (Feb 15) in a rebuff to comments by China's top diplomat at the Munich Security Conference.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a view the government in Taipei rejects, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, addressing the annual security conference on Saturday, warned that some countries were "trying to split Taiwan from China", blamed Japan for tensions over the island and underscored the importance of upholding the United Nations Charter.
Taiwan's Lin said in a statement that whether viewed from historical facts, objective reality or under international law, Taiwan's sovereignty has never belonged to the People's Republic of China.
Subscribe to our Chief Editor’s Week in Review
Our chief editor shares analysis and picks of the week's biggest news every Saturday.
This service is not intended for persons residing in the E.U. By clicking subscribe, I agree to receive news updates and promotional material from Mediacorp and Mediacorp’s partners.
Loading
Lin said that Wang had "boasted" of upholding the purposes of the UN Charter and had blamed other countries for regional tensions.
"In fact, China has recently engaged in military provocations in surrounding areas and has repeatedly and openly violated UN Charter principles on refraining from the use of force or the threat of force," Lin said. This "once again exposes a hegemonic mindset that does not match its words with its actions."
China's military, which operates daily around Taiwan, staged its latest round of mass war games near Taiwan in December.
Senior Taiwanese officials like Lin are not invited to attend the Munich conference.
China says Taiwan was "returned" to Chinese rule by Japan at the end of World War Two in 1945 and that to challenge that is to challenge the postwar international order and Chinese sovereignty.
The government in Taipei says the island was handed over to the Republic of China, not the People's Republic, which did not yet exist, and hence Beijing has no right to claim sovereignty.
The republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, and the Republic of China remains the island's formal name.
Newsletter
Week in Review
Subscribe to our Chief Editor’s Week in Review
Our chief editor shares analysis and picks of the week's biggest news every Saturday.
Newsletter
Morning Brief
Subscribe to CNA’s Morning Brief
An automated curation of our top stories to start your day.
Sign up for our newsletters
Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app