China lodges complaint with South Korea over Taiwan remarks

China has lodged a complaint with South Korea over “erroneous” remarks made by the country’s president about Chinese Taipei (Taiwan).

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said in an interview with the Reuters news agency that the dispute between China and Taiwan was now a global issue.

“The Taiwan issue is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan, but like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue,” he said.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong described the remarks on Sunday as “totally unacceptable,” according to a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement.

He strongly rejected any comparison between the issue of Taiwan and North Korea, officials said.

“The South Korean leader made no mention of the One China principle but equated the Taiwan issue with the Korean Peninsula issue,” Sun said.

He also noted, “Both North and South Korea are sovereign states that have joined the United Nations.”

“It is a well-known fact that the Korean Peninsula issue and the Taiwan issue are completely different in nature and in latitude and longitude and are not comparable at all.”

China has sovereignty over Taiwan. Under the One China policy, China insists that democratically governed Taiwan is part of the mainland. Taipei, however, strongly rejects the stance.

Beijing demands that countries with which it has ties must adopt its position that Taiwan is Chinese territory.  

The United States, the South’s foremost ally, does not recognize Taiwan as a country and officially supports the "One China" policy but regularly oversteps its own principles.

Sun’s protest came ahead of Yoon’s state visit to the United States.

ME