Taiwan, tension rises after the vote. Beijing: 'There is only one China and Taiwan is part of it'

William Lai, Taiwan's president-elect, thanked the US Secretary of State for the congratulatory message he received on Saturday, immediately after the election victory. "The Taiwan-US partnership is guided by our shared values and interests," Lai wrote on X, adding that "by cooperating with our friends in the US, Taiwan is committed to promoting democracy, peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.

But the Taiwan issue is "at the core of China's fundamental interests and is the first insurmountable red line in Sino-US relations". So writes the Chinese Foreign Ministry in a note today in the aftermath of the elections won by William Lai Ching-te, candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party. Beijing emphasises that it 'strongly objected to the statement of the US State Department' on the 'elections in the Chinese region of Taiwan', in gross violation of the 'One China principle and the three Sino-US joint communiqués'. The US has 'sent a gravely mistaken signal, which China is strongly dissatisfied with and opposed to, and for this reason has lodged strong representations with the US'.

Elections in Taiwan will never change the fact that the island is part of 'one China' and has 'never been a country' independent and 'has not been in the past and certainly will not be in the future'. The Chinese diplomatic chief said that. "Whatever the outcome of the elections, they cannot change the fundamental fact that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of it," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Cairo, warning that moves in favour of Taiwan's independence will be "severely punished".

China, the note further reads, has always "strongly opposed any form of official exchange between the US and Taiwan", as well as "US interference in Taiwan's affairs in any way and under any pretext". Therefore, 'we urge the US to seriously respect the One China principle and the three Sino-US communiqués', recalling what US leaders have reiterated many times: 'not to support Taiwan independence, not to support "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan"'. Beijing therefore reiterates its call for America to stop official exchanges between Washington and Taipei and 'to stop sending wrong signals to the separatist forces of Taiwan independence'.

Meanwhile, after US President Joe Biden said yesterday that "the US does not support Taiwanese independence", a delegation of former US officials arrived in Taiwan for post-election meetings "in a private capacity" with the island's top leaders, according to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto US embassy in Taipei. In the aftermath of the presidential election won by William Lai, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, former Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, and AIt President Laura Rosenberger are visiting to meet with "a number of top political figures" starting tomorrow and convey the US people's congratulations to Taiwan on the successful vote.