China Says US Must Stop Interfering in Upcoming Elections in Taiwan

BEIJING (Sputnik) - The United States must refrain from interfering in Taiwan's presidential election, scheduled for January 2024, as it is an internal affair of China, Zhu Fenglian, the spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Chinese State Council, said Wednesday.

Taiwan will hold the presidential election on January 13, 2024. In April, Taiwan's ruling DPP officially nominated its chairman, Lai Ching-te, as the party's presidential candidate. Meanwhile, Taiwan's incumbent leader, Tsai Ing-wen, is no longer eligible for reelection as she has already served two consecutive terms as the island's president.

"Taiwan's election is China's internal affair, and interference by outside forces is unacceptable," Zhu told a news conference.

She added that Washington, during the US-China top-level summit in San Francisco in November, made serious political commitments to Beijing on the issue of Taiwan, and US President Joe Biden explicitly said that he does not support "independence for Taiwan."

"The US must fulfill its promises, stop sending false signals to pro-independence forces in Taiwan, and stop interfering in Taiwan's elections," Zhu said.

Sandra Oudkirk, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, earlier said that Taiwan had experienced serious cyberattacks that were allegedly an attempt to destroy the island's "democratic system" and accused mainland China of attempts to interfere in Taiwan's 2024 elections.

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing regards the island as its province, while Taiwan maintains that it is an autonomous entity but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official foreign contacts with Taipei and regards Chinese sovereignty over the island as indisputable.

The latest escalation around Taiwan took place in April after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with then-US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the United States. Beijing responded by launching massive three-day military drills near the island in what it called a warning to Taiwanese separatists and foreign powers. In August and September, the Taiwanese armed forces reported multiple sightings of Chinese naval and air patrols in the island's vicinity. On September 18, the ministry reported a record high of 103 Chinese aircraft seen near the island in one day.