Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claim after US unveils security strategy

TAIWAN'S foreign ministry on Tuesday (December 9) called China a “troublemaker” as it rejected Beijing’s claim of sovereignty.

AI Brief

US announced a security plan to strengthen military power and deter conflict with China over Taiwan.
China warned against external interference and reiterated its sovereignty claim over Taiwan.
Taiwan rejected Beijing's claims, affirming only its elected government represents its 23 million people.

On Friday (December 5), the United States unveiled a new security strategy aimed at building up military power to deter conflict with Beijing over Taiwan. China responded by pledging to defend its sovereignty and warned against "external interference".

“Only Taiwan's democratically elected government can represent the 23 million people of Taiwan in the international community and in multilateral settings, China has no right to interfere,” said Hsiao Kuang-Wei, Taiwan’s foreign ministry spokesperson, during a news conference in Taipei on Tuesday.

When journalists asked Hsiao about Chinese Foreign Minister’s Wang Yi recent claim that the People's Republic of China was the successor state to the Republic of China, it "naturally" enjoys sovereignty over Taiwan, Hsiao replied, that Taiwan “absolutely was not part of the People's Republic of China.”

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has never renounced the use of potential force to take control of the island.