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The recent US invitation to Taiwan has irked China, which sees the island (Taiwan) as a renegade province.
US President Joe Biden has sent invitation to democratically governed Taiwan for the upcoming, US-hosted Summit for Democracy. As expected the move was quickly condemned by China, which views the island as a renegade province.
Taiwan, which the US does not officially recognise as a sovereign nation, was included on a list of 110 invitees to the virtual summit, which will be held on December 9 and 10.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said the government would be represented at the event, which Biden announced in August, by Digital Minister Audrey Tang and Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador in Washington.
“Our country’s invitation to participate in the Summit for Democracy is an affirmation of Taiwan’s efforts to promote the values of democracy and human rights over the years,” the ministry said.
“Through this summit, Taiwan can share its democratic success story,” Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang said in a statement. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, meanwhile, said that Beijing “firmly opposes the US invitation to the Taiwan authorities to participate in the so-called Summit for Democracy.” Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory, said the spokesperson.
All other participants included on the US Department of State’s list to date are countries whose sovereignty is officially recognised by Washington. US rivals Russia and China are not included, neither is Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was previously dubbed an “autocrat” by Biden.
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China has historically chafed at any moves seen as offering international legitimacy to Taiwan, including a recent push, supported by the US, for the island to have a greater role at the United Nations and its wide collection of international bodies.
While maintaining a strategy of strategic ambiguity towards Taiwan, the US continues to support and maintain unofficial relations with the island, as outlined in the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, and has upheld Taiwan as a beacon of democracy.
