What did Rubio say about Taiwan independence? US, China at odds
A certain detail is conspicuously absent from State Department’s account of a phone call reportedly made at the top American envoy’s request
“The United States does not support ‘Taiwan independence’ and hopes that the Taiwan issue will be peacefully resolved in a way accepted by both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” Rubio said in a call that he requested, according to Beijing’s foreign ministry.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary.
Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons, as authorised by the Taiwan Relations Act.
Asked about the differing accounts of what was said about Taiwan on the call, Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for Beijing’s embassy in Washington, said “the content of the call has been made very clear” in the Chinese ministry’s statement.