INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
on Tuesday not to allow Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to transit its territory when she visits Belize and Paraguay next month, adding to
tension between Beijing and Washington that has worsened amid a trade war.Beijing considers democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province of
"one China", ineligible for state-to-state relations, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.China
regularly calls Taiwan the most sensitive and important issue between it and the United States, and Beijing always complains to Washington
about transit stops by Taiwanese presidents.Taiwan's government announced on Monday that Tsai would travel to and from its two diplomatic
allies via the United States, standard procedure for visits by Taiwanese presidents to Latin America.Taiwan's Presidential Office said
Tsai would be stopping off in Los Angeles and Houston, though did not provide exact dates.Speaking at a daily news briefing in Beijing,
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had already lodged solemn representations with Washington about the planned
transits."We have consistently resolutely opposed the United States or other countries with which China has diplomatic relations arranging
this kind of transit," Geng said.China urged the United States "not to allow the transit of the leader of the Taiwan region, and not send
any wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces", he added.China has been peeling away the number of countries which maintain formal
diplomatic ties with Taiwan, amid a concerted effort to pressure Tsai, whose Democratic Progressive Party espouses independence for the
island, a red line for China.The timing of Tsai's August visits to the United States comes amid an increasingly bitter trade war between
China and the United States.While the United States has no formal ties with Taiwan, it is the island's main source of arms and strongest
unofficial diplomatic backer, to Beijing's anger.Taiwan has official relations with just 18 countries worldwide, many of them poor nations
in Central America and the Pacific such as Nicaragua and Nauru.Taiwan has accused China of using dollar diplomacy to lure away its allies,
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
