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Taiwan News, 2018/03/01

Juvina Lai

Legislation aimed at forging closer ties between the US and Taiwan, which China highly condemns

China expressed anger and dissatisfaction on Thursday after the United States Senate passed the Taiwan Travel Act and said some of the clauses violated the "One-China" principle, which they claim is the foundation of China-US relations.

The US Senate passed the Taiwan Travel Act by unanimous consent, as it had also passed the House of Representatives in January without any opposition.

The act states that the US should allow its officials at all levels to travel to Taiwan to meet with their Taiwanese counterparts as well as permit high-level Taiwanese officials to enter the United States "under respectful conditions" to meet their American counterparts. The bill also strongly encourages stronger economic and cultural ties and urges Taiwanese representatives to conduct business in the United States, as reported by Reuters.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said the bill seriously violates the "One China" principle.

"China is strongly dissatisfied with this and resolutely opposes it, and has already lodged stern representations with the U.S. side," Hua said in a news briefing on Thursday.

She also mentioned that China urges the United States to cease all official ties with Taiwan and prudently and appropriately handle issues related to Taiwan to avoid seriously interfering with and damaging China-U.S. relations", as reported by Reuters.

Meanwhile Taiwan praised US and thanked the government for its constant support and increasingly friendly attitude towards Taiwan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "The Foreign Ministry will keep developing an even more substantive cooperative relationship with the United States, to promote both sides' joint values and mutually-beneficial interests."

The bill still awaits President Donald Trump's signature, and White House officials did not provide any immediate response when asked by US media if he planned to sign the legislation. Still, US media report it would be rather unusual for a president to veto a measure that was accepted by all and passed without any opposition.