China demands US stop trade talks with Taiwan – Hindustan Times

BEIJING: China on Thursday strongly opposed a new trade initiative between Taiwan and the US with the country’s commerce and foreign ministries warning Washington of consequences if the pact went through and saying it is sending a wrong message to separatists.

The US and Taiwan announced the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade on Wednesday, only days after the Biden administration kept Taipei out of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which includes India, designed to counter Beijing’s growing influence.

Beijing and Washington have lately been locked in angry exchanges because of the latter’s increased engagement with Taiwan, which China claims as a breakaway region. “The US should prudently handle trade and economic ties with Taiwan to avoid sending a wrong message to Taiwan separatists,” said Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson, Gao Feng, at a press conference on Thursday.

“China always opposes any form of official exchanges between any country and the Taiwan region of China, including negotiating and signing any economic and trade agreements with sovereign connotations and an official nature,” Gao said.

The Chinese foreign ministry weighed into the issue.

Trade dialogues “disrupt peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”, foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said, and called on Washington to “stop negotiating agreements with Taiwan that have sovereign connotations and official nature”.

Earlier, in a statement, the US Trade Representative said that “both sides (US and Taiwan) will work at pace… to develop an ambitious roadmap for negotiations for reaching agreements with high-standard commitments and economically meaningful outcomes”.

Taiwan’s lead trade negotiator John Deng, according to agency reports from Taipei, said the talks would “open up more room for economic cooperation” between Taiwan and the US. “We can say this is a historic breakthrough,” he added.

Separately, foreign ministry’s Zhao said it opposes US arms sales to Taiwan after Washington announced that it could expand the sale of arms to the self-ruled island, located off the southern coast of China.

On Tuesday, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin indicated Washington was willing to expand arms aid and military training for Taiwan in response to China’s aggression against Taiwan in an interview to Japanese media.

Zhao said the statement is against China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and seriously interferes in China’s internal affairs.

Zhao added that if the US wants to maintain the freedom, stability and security of the Asia-Pacific, “it should stop the wrong act of creating political and military confrontations in the Asia-Pacific region, and play a constructive role in enhancing mutual trust and cooperation among countries in the region”.

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  Sutirtho Patranobis has been in Beijing since 2012, as Hindustan Times’ China correspondent. He was previously posted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he covered the final phase of the civil war and its aftermath. Patranobis covered several beats including health and national politics in Delhi before being posted abroad.