Taiwan envoy to U.S. says China bullying spurs foreign interest

China’s aggressive military
response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan
has increased interest from other countries’ parliaments in
similar trips, the island’s de facto ambassador to the United
States said on Wednesday.
China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, carried out its
largest-ever military exercises around the self-governed island
after a visit earlier this month by Pelosi, who was followed
this week by five more U.S. lawmakers.
The White House has said China “overreacted” to Pelosi’s
visit, using it as a pretext to try to change the status quo in
the Taiwan Strait by launching missiles over Taiwan and staging
blockade drills around the island.
“What China is doing is they are generating greater interest
than ever in visiting Taiwan,” Taiwan’s top representative in
Washington Hsiao Bi-khim told Reuters in an interview.
“We have seen since the visit parliaments from other
countries also indicating an interest,” she said, naming
Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan among countries
that could possibly send delegations.
“The victim of bullying needs friends,” Hsiao said. “Their
behavior is generating so much attention and sympathy towards
our situation,” she said of China’s military actions.
A delegation of Canadian lawmakers plans to visit Taiwan in
October, Liberal Member of Canada’s Parliament Judy Sgro said
earlier on Wednesday.
Beijing imposed sanctions on a Lithuanian minister who
visited Taiwan days after Pelosi’s trip.
Asked if Taiwan would welcome a visit by a Republican
speaker should the party take control of the House of
Representatives after U.S. midterm elections, Hsiao said: “We
have been open for decades to congressional delegations, and
that applies to members of any party.”
China has never renounced using force to bring Taiwan under
its control and views visits by other countries’ officials to
Taiwan as sending an encouraging signal to the island’s
pro-independence camp. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty
claims and says only its people can decide its future.
Pelosi had said that her visit was a signal that China could
not prevent world leaders from traveling to the island.
The United States does not have official diplomatic ties
with Taiwan but is bound under U.S. law to provide it with
means to defend itself, a long-standing practice which
nonetheless angers China.
“This is the move that changes the status quo. This is the
move that creates tensions,” China’s ambassador to Washington
Qin Gang told reporters on Tuesday when asked about future U.S.
arms sales to Taiwan.
Taiwan has previously talked of problems accessing some
weapons it has on order from the United States, like
shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, especially given
supply chain bottlenecks created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hsiao said Taiwan was closely coordinating its defense
priorities and delivery schedules with the United States, and
that defense industry supply chain issues were being actively
addressed.