In response to the United States State Department accusing China of intentionally changing the cross Taiwan-strait status quo on Friday, on the 26th of May, the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a formal statement showing their gratitude towards the country. The Ministry also declared that China’s merciless suppression of the country would not demoralize Taiwan, and would only serve to strengthen their relations with the international community.
After Taiwan had lost their 2nd diplomatically within a month in Burkina Faso on the 24th of May, many US senators including Cory Gardner, Marco Rubio, and Ed Royce, had used their social media reach to accuse China of purposely enticing these countries from breaking their relations with Taiwan. In reference to this act, Andrew Lee, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan, personally gave a statement thanking all the congressmen for taking Taiwan’s side against continued economic and political suppression by China. Andrew also promised that Taiwan would follow by President Tsai Ing-wen’s ideals, and not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy.’
In his declaration, Andrew Lee highlighted previous oppressions inflicted upon them by China, like prohibiting the country from attending the World Health Assembly in Switzerland, compelling foreign websites, especially airlines, to change their formal location from ‘Taipei, Taiwan’, to ‘Taiwan, China’; thereby trying to negate Taiwan’s sovereignty claims, and lastly, China’s continued effort to break diplomatic relations between Taiwan and all other international countries. However, Andrew assured that these acts of oppression would only result in resentment building up among the Taiwanese citizens, which was bound to have some consequence soon. For the time being, Taiwan intends to maintain their allies in the international community by providing a substantive contribution and promoting sustainable development all around the world.