Yoon Suk-yeol Photo: Xinhua

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong made solemn representations to South Korean Ambassador to China Chung Jae-ho over South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's wrong remarks on the Taiwan question, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday.

In an interview with Reuters, Yoon said that "increased tensions around [the island of Taiwan] were due to attempts to change the status quo by force," and he opposed such a change. "The Taiwan issue is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue." Yoon said.

Sun stressed that such remarks are totally unacceptable, and China has expressed grave concerns and strong dissatisfaction.

There is only one China in the world and the island of Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affairs and the settlement of the Taiwan question is the Chinese people's own affair, and no force will be allowed to interfere, Sun said. 

The fundamental cause of tensions across the Taiwan Straits is the separatist activities carried out by "Taiwan independence" secessionists on the island with the support and connivance of foreign forces. President Yoon Suk-yeol did not mention the one-China principle but compared the Taiwan question with the Korean Peninsula issue. It is known to all that North Korea and South Korea are sovereign states as part of the United Nations, and the Korean Peninsula issue and the Taiwan question are totally different in nature and are not comparable at all, he noted. 

China urges South Korea to earnestly abide by the spirit of the joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and South Korea and by the one-China principle and be cautious in words and deeds on the Taiwan question.

In response, Chung said that South Korea always respects the one-China principle and this position remains unchanged.

On the same day, Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming also made China's solemn position clear to South Korea's first vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin.

Global Times