INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Taiwan President is to transit through US during her to visit Belize and Paraguay next month.Beijing/Taipei: China urged the United States
on Tuesday not to allow Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to transit its territory when she visits Belize and Paraguay next month, adding to
tension between Beijing and Washington that has worsened amid a trade war.Beijing considers democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province of
"one China", ineligible for state-to-state relations, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.China
regularly calls Taiwan the most sensitive and important issue between it and the United States, and Beijing always complains to Washington
about transit stops by Taiwanese presidents.Taiwan's government announced on Monday that Tsai would travel to and from its two diplomatic
allies via the United States, standard procedure for visits by Taiwanese presidents to Latin America.Taiwan's Presidential Office said Tsai
would be stopping off in Los Angeles and Houston, though did not provide exact dates.Speaking at a daily news briefing in Beijing, Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had already lodged solemn representations with Washington about the planned transits."We
have consistently resolutely opposed the United States or other countries with which China has diplomatic relations arranging this kind of
transit," Geng said.China urged the United States "not to allow the transit of the leader of the Taiwan region, and not send any wrong
signals to Taiwan independence forces", he added.China has been peeling away the number of countries which maintain formal diplomatic ties
with Taiwan, amid a concerted effort to pressure Tsai, whose Democratic Progressive Party espouses independence for the island, a red line
for China.The timing of Tsai's August visits to the United States comes amid an increasingly bitter trade war between China and the United
States.While the United States has no formal ties with Taiwan, it is the island's main source of arms and strongest unofficial diplomatic
backer, to Beijing's anger.Taiwan has official relations with just 18 countries worldwide, many of them poor nations in Central America and
the Pacific such as Nicaragua and Nauru.Taiwan has accused China of using dollar diplomacy to lure away its allies, promising generous aid
packages, charges China has denied.© Thomson Reuters 2018(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent
staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
