BEIJING: China’s Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong on Sunday lodged solemn representations with the South Korean ambassador over “erroneous” remarks by the South Korean president about Taiwan, according to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry, as a diplomatic spat simmers between the two neighbours.
In an interview with Reuters, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said increased tensions around Taiwan were due to attempts to forcefully change the status quo, and he opposed such a change.
Sun termed Yoon’s remarks “totally unacceptable”, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
Yoon said, “The Taiwan issue is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue.”
The minister said the South Korean president made no mention of the One China principle, but equated the Taiwan issue with that of the Korean Peninsula.
“Both North and South Korea are sovereign states that have joined the United Nations. It is a well-known fact that the Korean Peninsula issue and the Taiwan issue are completely different in nature and in latitude and longitude, and are not comparable at all.”
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin had previously criticized Yoon’s remarks, calling it a “universally known fact” that the Taiwan issue could not be compared to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
This prompted Seoul on Thursday to berate Beijing for its “serious diplomatic discourtesy.”
Tensions are high in the Taiwan Strait, with China launching military exercises earlier this month following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to the United States.
China claims democratically ruled Taiwan to be a part of its own territory, a position strongly rejected by Taipei, and demands that countries having ties with Beijing must adopt its position that Taiwan is Chinese territory.
