A Chinese delegation visited Taiwan, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, and declared the Taipei Chamber, which is led by the historic Chinese nationalist Kuomintang party that has been in opposition to the national government since 2016, but is in power in the People’s Republic of China. capital.
Six Chinese representatives met with the mayor, Chiang Wan Na, in a visit that joins the latest series of talks between Beijing and Taipei as Taiwan prepares for presidential elections in 2024.
A statement from the Taipei City Council on Monday about Saturday’s visit said that Chinese and Taiwanese officials “exchanged ideas on municipal issues such as culture, sports and tourism.”
The Council for Mainland Issues, Taiwan’s policy-making body, said the visit was approved as long as it was confidential, and added that it hoped the visit would promote “healthy exchanges.”
Due to the political tension between Taiwan and China, even before the epidemic, exchanges were limited.
But two weeks ago, the vice-chairman of the Kuomintang, Andrew Hsia, paid a nine-day visit to China, during which he requested more direct flights between Taiwan and China and called for the lifting of import restrictions — Beijing banned the import of fruit and fish from Taiwan in retaliation for a visit to the island in August by the council chief. Then-US Representative Nancy Pelosi.
Military cooperation with the United States
On the contrary, the President, Tsai Ing-wen, during a meeting with a North American delegation, said that Taiwan would increase military cooperation with the United States to deal with “authoritarian expansionism”. However, Tsai did not provide further details.
On the US side, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, who is leading the bipartisan delegation, explained that the visa is aimed at strengthening economic and security ties.
Like most countries, the United States has no official relationship with Taiwan, but it is the island’s largest arms supplier, a source of tension with China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.
As Beijing increased pressure on Taipei to accept Chinese sovereignty, ties between Taiwan and the United States tightened.
Last week, the Pentagon’s top official for China, Michael Chase, went to Taiwan, according to the financial times. Chase is the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China, and is the most senior US administration official to visit Taipei in the past four years, after Hino Klink, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia, who in turn was the most senior Pentagon official to visit Taiwan in the past four decades.
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