Photo: CFP

 
The Taiwan question is China's internal affair. It is not about "democracy versus authoritarianism," but about secession versus anti-secession, the Chinese Embassy in the US stated in a solemn response to a Washington Post Op-ed titled "Ukraine has inspired Taiwan. We must stand against authoritarianism." The embassy sternly refuted the attempt to use the Ukraine issue to foment splits between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits.

The Washington Post article authored by Hsiao Bi-khim, the island of Taiwan's representative to the US, uses the Ukraine issue to distort the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one and the same China, the Chinese embassy said in a statement published on its site on Friday.

In solemn response to Hsiao Bi-khim's Op-ed piece, Minister Counselor Zhu Haiquan, Chief of the Political Section of the Chinese Embassy in the US, wrote a letter to the Editorial Board of the Washington Post, part of which was published by the Washington Post on Friday under the title "Taiwan is not Ukraine."

The Taiwan question and the Ukraine crisis are totally different in nature. Ukraine is sovereign state, and the Ukraine crisis is a conflict between sovereign countries, while Taiwan is part of China's territory, and the Taiwan question is a matter of China's internal affairs, the letter read. 

The claim that Chinese mainland "threatens" Taiwan does not hold water. The Taiwan question is not about "democracy versus authoritarianism," but about secession versus anti-secession, the letter said.

Using "democracy" and "authoritarianism" to draw a line between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits is to provoke confrontation and seek an excuse for "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces. This is the only and real threat to the people of Taiwan, the letter stated.

Global Times