China condemns US delegation visit to Taiwan as 'interference'

Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin and chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, right, with Han Kuo-yu, speaker of the Legislative Yuan, in Taipei, Taiwan, on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. A delegation of US lawmakers led by Gallagher arrived in Taiwan, a visit that may exacerbate an already fraught relationship between the island and China. -- Photographer: I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg

BEIJING (AFP): China on Thursday condemned a US delegation visit to Taiwan as "interference", after the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on China arrived on the self-ruled island with four other lawmakers.

"China always resolutely opposes any form of official exchange between the United States and Taiwan authorities, and resolutely opposes the United States' interference in Taiwan affairs in any way or under any pretext," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press conference.

Mike Gallagher heads the five-member delegation that met Thursday with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President Lai Ching-te, who won last month's presidential election and will take office in May.

"We urge the United States to recognise the extreme complexity and sensitivity of the Taiwan issue," Mao said, urging the US to adhere to the "one-China principle" and stop official exchanges with Taiwan. - AFP