Taiwan’s representative to the US says “we want peace and stability,” but “we are not the ones causing all this trouble” with China.
washington – Taiwan’s representative to the US, Alexander Yui, said on Sunday that “we want peace and stability” as Taiwan became among the most watched stories last week’s conference between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“We want our lives to continue as usual. But we are not the ones causing all these problems,” Yui said “See the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
Mr. Trump returned to the summit in Beijing on Friday after that two days of talks with Xi. Taiwan is the core of China’s interestsand Beijing has denied that it will use military force to regain control. The US has been committed to protecting Taiwan for decades, but there are growing concerns that could change under Mr.
The two “talked a lot about Taiwan” during the visit, Mr. Trump told reporters Friday aboard Air Force One. According to Chinese state media, Xi warned Mr. Trump for “conflicts and conflicts” if the Taiwan issue is “handled properly.”
Yui said on Sunday when Mr. Trump heard “a lot about Taiwan” during the conference, “the problem is, you only heard their side of the story. You heard the Chinese story.”
The ambassador said that Taiwan “would like to tell our side of the story, the story of Taiwan, which is one of resilience, of not resisting Chinese aggression.”
“This has been happening for 77 years. This is not something that happened recently when the DPP, which is the ruling party in Taiwan, came to power,” said Yui. “This has been going on for 77 years, since it was founded in 1949 when they became the People’s Republic. So it is not a recent thing.”
Yui expressed appreciation for the way the US is working at the Beijing summit, and said that Mr. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “were critical about their visit to Beijing, saying publicly that there is no change in the United States’ longstanding position on Taiwan.”
Although China wants the US to stop arms sales to Taiwan, Mr. Trump said he “has not made a commitment” and “will make a decision in the next short period of time.” He told Fox News after meeting with Xi that he viewed the pending arms sale as “a good way to negotiate.”
“Taiwan would be very smart to cool it down a bit,” Mr. Trump. “China would be very smart to cool it down a bit.
“I think that is a statement that you want the situation to exist,” said Yui when asked about these statements. “That he does not want change in the Taiwan Straits, either through economic or military coercion, and that the peace and stability of the Taiwan Straits is good for all parties involved.”
Asked if Taiwan intends to officially declare independence from China, Yui said that the emphasis on Taiwan’s independence is that “Taiwan is independent from China’s violence.”
“That we are not under the People’s Republic of China in any way,” he said. “And that is to preserve our sovereignty, our way of life, our democracy, our strong economy, our high-tech production. That is what independence means. We are self-governing, independent, away from the People’s Republic of China’s attempt to swallow us as one of them.”
Yui stressed that Taiwan “does not want war.”
“It’s like there are people in our house trying to enter our house,” he said. “We are trying to strengthen our security system, and then they complain, the criminal complains that because we are trying to improve our security system, it makes his job difficult.”
