Virulent reaction of the Chinese Embassy in Bucharest after the visit of a Romanian deputy to Taiwan
The Chinese Embassy in Bucharest states that the Romanian deputy Alexandru Muraru “flagrantly intervened in China's internal affairs, supporting the “independence of Taiwan”” following a visit to the region, which “raises questions” whether he “really represents Romania's interests”.
The spokesperson of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Romania conveyed, on Friday, in a statement posted on the Facebook page of the diplomatic representation, that “Taiwan is a part of China, both mainland China and Taiwan belong to the same China”.
“This has been the reality since ancient times until today, which constitutes the true status-quo of the Taiwan Strait and an important component of the international order after the Second World War. The recognition of the Government of the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate government representing the whole of China and the observance of the principle of “one China” represents a consensus recognized at the level of the entire international community, respectively a natural thing of respecting the basic norms of international relations”, the message insists.
“In 1949, Romania and the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations. Since then, the “one China” principle has become the political foundation of bilateral relations, guaranteeing that the relations between China and Romania have withstood the tests of changes in the international situation and continued to develop constantly,” the representative of the Chinese embassy says in the post.
“The “one China” principle is the foundation of Sino-Romanian relations, as well as the guarantee of friendship between the two countries”
Then, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy refers to a visit to Taiwan by PNL deputy Alexandru Muraru, stating that, through an article published later, he “flagrantly intervened in China's internal affairs”, supporting “Taiwan's independence”.
“Recently, the Romanian deputy Alexandru Muraru visited the Taiwan region, a fact which, in itself, goes against the official policy of Romania. After returning to Romania, he published an article in the press in which he supported the separatist position of the authority of the Progressive Democratic Party to promote the independence of Taiwan, a fact for which we express our serious concern and firm opposition. The issue of Taiwan is one that concerns China's internal affairs and represents the core of China's fundamental interests. Just like a county or a Romania's region cannot separate from the Romanian state under any pretext, nor can Taiwan separate from China under any reason. “Do not do to others what you do not want done to you”. The fact that Mr. Muraru blatantly intervened in China's internal affairs, supporting “Taiwan's independence”, not only contradicts the basic knowledge of diplomacy, but also raises questions about whether he really represents Romania's interests.
According to her, “the Chinese side firmly opposes any form of official ties with Taiwan by states that have diplomatic relations with China, including visits by representatives of official institutions, the establishment of official representative offices, the signing of official agreements or the conduct of official cooperation.”
“We attach great importance to the commitment of the Romanian side to support the “one China” policy and we hope that this commitment will be truly implemented. As such, the “one China” principle represents both the political foundation of Sino-Romanian relations and the guarantee of friendship between the two countries from generation to generation”, concluded the spokesperson.
What is the current MFA position on Taiwan
On the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), currently led by Oana Țoiu (USR), there is talk about “Romania's special relationship with the Chinese Republic”.
“Romania maintains its constant position of recognizing one China, Taiwan being an integral part of it”, it is stated on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where there is also a review of the important moments in the diplomatic relations between Romania and China.
Taiwan has repeatedly stated that it will not give up its sovereignty or make concessions on freedom and democracy.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory, despite vocal objections from the government in Taipei, and has never given up on the idea of using force to bring the island under Beijing's control.
What Alexandru Muraru wrote after his visit to Taiwan
Liberal MP Alexandru Muraru recently reported, in a post on Facebook, that he had a meeting with the president of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te, in the context of the Forum for Democratic Cooperation organized in Taipei, writes News.ro.
“Taiwan is one of the most sophisticated and effective contemporary demonstrations of how to defend a democracy in the 21st century. President Lai gave a rigorous speech about democracy and its defense, and then exchanged a few words with several participants in the forum. I was impressed to note that, in our discussions, the president of Taiwan knew very well the situation in Romania, the efforts being made to formalize relations with Taiwan, and he also showed interest in political developments considering the political and governmental crisis we are going through. For a country from the other end of the world, this interest demonstrates that, in many cases, we are more important and strategically relevant in the eyes of many state actors, than we can hope or believe,” Alexandru Muraru pointed out.
According to him, “we continue to treat democratic resilience almost exclusively as a responsibility of security institutions,” while Taiwan treats it as a responsibility of the entire society.
“We are still discussing countering disinformation as a one-off issue. Taiwan has made it a national policy. We are talking about strategic partnerships. Taiwan is building operational cooperative networks among democracies,” he added.
