I would like to make a few corrections to the comments submitted by the Consul General of China in Montreal, Chen Xueming, in your pages (The duty, August 6, 2022). First, there was no violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the People’s Republic of China when Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, a sovereign state whose leaders are democratically elected. Second, while most member countries of the United Nations General Assembly, including the United States and Canada, have taken note of the Chinese claim that Taiwan is an integral part of China, they have not endorsed this claim, nor opposed it. The political commitment of China and the United States upon the recognition of China by the United States has been to respect a status quo where China guarantees that the final status of Taiwan will be determined peacefully and without coercion. It is China that has challenged its commitments through its belligerent statements and irresponsible actions in recent days.
There was no American hypocrisy: the visit of Mme Pelosi in Taiwan did not question the policy established and reiterated by President Biden that the United States recognizes only one China. On the contrary, it was a question of reminding the latter of the commitments made by the American Congress to support the Taiwanese in their defense against any attempt to challenge the status quo. The provocation came from China, following General Secretary Xi Jinping’s refusal to pursue a dialogue with President Tsai Ing-wen, and the repeated incursions by Chinese air forces into the Taiwan Air Identification Zone. The position of the Communist Party of China is certainly clear, but that of the Taiwanese, who expressed themselves unequivocally against “one country two systems”, is just as clear. In the case of Taiwan, the population has repeatedly had the opportunity to speak out on the issue: the Chinese, unfortunately, cannot say the same.
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