News / China

Beijing cuts contact with Taiwan over Tsai pro-indep. stance

Saturday, 25 June 2016 9:45 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 29 June 2016 3:56 PM ]

An Fengshan, spokesman of China's Taiwan Affairs Office

China has cut off contact with the main Taiwan liaison body as a result of the refusal of the self-ruled island nation’s new president to recognize the so-called One China concept.

In a statement posted on the website of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Saturday, spokesman An Fengshan said communication had been stopped since May 20, when Tsai Ing-wen took office.

“Because the Taiwan side has been unable to confirm the ‘92 consensus that embodies the common political foundation of the One-China principle, the mechanism for contact and communication between the two sides has already been suspended,” An added.

The consensus refers to an agreement reached in 1992 between Beijing and Taipei, under which both sides acknowledged the existence of a single Chinese nation comprising both Taiwan and the mainland.

Tsai of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was sworn in as Taiwan’s first female leader, after winning a landslide victory in January.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen waves as she delivers an acceptance speech during her inauguration ceremony in Taipei on May 20, 2016. ©AP

Since then, Beijing has insisted that the Taiwanese chief executive must recognize the so-called One China concept, but Tsai has neither endorsed nor repudiated the notion.

Saturday’s announcement came one day after Cambodia deported to China 25 Taiwanese nationals wanted on fraud charges; in a move which irked Taipei.

China and Taiwan are physically separated by the Taiwan Strait in the Western Pacific Ocean.

They split politically following the 1927-1950 Chinese Civil War and there have been no formal cross-strait diplomatic relations ever since.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory, but the island considers Beijing as a threat, an attitude which has been invigorated since the DPP’s victory.

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