China slams EU and Japan for damaging trust after joint statement includes rare mention of Taiwan
Taiwan has welcomed a joint statement issued by the European Union and Japan on Thursday “underscoring the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” marking the first time Taiwan has been mentioned in such a high-level statement.
In the joint statement, issued after a virtual summit between leaders from the two sides, the EU and Japan said that they “remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo and increase tensions.”
“We underscore the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues,” the statement read.
Hong Kong and Xinjiang were also mentioned in a list of regional issues that the EU and Japan agreed to consult each other and coordinate closely on.
In its response welcoming the statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan said Taipei will keep working with both partners for a free and open Indo Pacific.
China’s mission to the European Union said that the remarks by the EU and Japan had “completely gone beyond the norm of developing bilateral relations.”
“Such remarks undermine international peace and stability, damage mutual understanding and trust between countries in the region, harm the interests of third parties and run counter to their claim to be “working for a more secure, democratic and stable world,” the mission’s statement said.
The statement added that Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong-related issues are China’s internal affairs, while the East China Sea and the South China Sea concern China’s territorial sovereignty and its maritime rights and interests.
“All these issues represent China’s fundamental interests and [Beijing will] brook no interference,” the statement said. “We express our strong discontent with and firm opposition to the remarks in the joint statement of the EU-Japan Summit.”
The latest row comes after the EU, U.K., U.S. and Canada slapped sanctions on Chinese officials in March in connection with alleged human rights abuses in China’s western region of Xinjiang. China countered with its own sanctions targeting members of parliament, researchers and academics from the various countries.
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