Taiwan on Friday accused China for “bullying” and “suppression” after Guyana terminated an agreement with Taipei to set up an office in the South American country.
Taiwan’s strong remarks come after the Guyanese Foreign Ministry issued a statement announcing the termination of the agreement, citing “miscommunication”, Focus Taiwan reported.
On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to the “agreement,” urging Guyana to “earnestly take steps to correct their mistake.”
There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, said Wang.
“We hope the relevant party will abide by the one-China principle, refrain from any form of official exchanges and establishment of official institutions with Taiwan, take concrete actions to correct the error and eliminate the negative effects,” he added.
Taiwan Foreign Ministry on Thursday announced that Taiwan will open a representative office in Guyana.
Hours after, the Guyanese government terminated the agreement and clarified that it has not established any diplomatic ties or relations with Taiwan.
Responding to the abrupt change, Taiwan foreign ministry said, in a statement, Friday that both sides had agreed to announce the Taiwan Office through the media.
The foreign ministry said Guyana’s decision is “regrettable” and denounced Beijing for “bullying.”
“We condemn in the strongest terms the Chinese government’s bullying and suppression of Taiwan’s international space,” it said.
Beijing’s move does not conform with the February 5 pronouncement by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the World Economic Forum that “the strong should not bully the weak” and decisions should not be made by “waving a big fist,” the ministry said.
Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing.
The United Kingdom became the first country in the world to administer the new coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by Pfizer and BioNTech. Canada, Mexico, the US are among the countries that later approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for their citizens.
Source: ZEE5/ANI