China, on November 22, accused Taiwan of having confessed to a separatist agenda.
Hua Chunying, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Taipei’s claim of having achieved a diplomatic breakthrough after opening the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania is a confession of its separatist agenda.
Taiwan has direct diplomatic ties with only fifteen nations, and Lithuania is not one of them.
The new de facto embassy in the Baltic state has irked China, which recalled its Ambassador from Lithuania and downgraded the bilateral ties.
China, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province, condemns its international presence as an independent entity. The usage of the word ‘Taiwan’ (ROC) would mean the presence of two Chinas, and that is not the case says China, which maintains that there is only one China (PRC).
Taiwan also has unofficial relations with 58 UN member states.
Could China invade Taiwan ?
China has warned in the past that any attempts by Taiwan to declare independence would force the mainland to take ‘resolute’ measures.
However, the US is committed to providing Taiwan with defense capabilities as per the ‘Taiwan Relations Act,’ and President Biden has recently said that the US would intervene directly in case Taiwan is invaded by China.
China has called the ‘Taiwan Relations Act’ illegal, null and void. The act violates the one-China principle and three China-US Joint Communiques and places the US domestic law above its international obligations, Chinese Foreign Ministry Official Lijian Zhao said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has inducted its first squadron of upgraded F-16V fighter jets that were delivered by the US.
The Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen posed for a picture sitting in the advanced fighter jet.