China warns Israel over Taiwanese Foreign Minister’s interview -

Jerusalem: Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu gave pieces of advice like ‘Israel should reduce its dependence on China’, ‘Do not give any concessions to China’ and ‘If China is upset with you, know that you are on the correct path’ during an interview with an Israeli daily. China seems to be agitated with this. China has instructed the Israeli daily to delete this interview. China has warned that in the event of this not happening, the Chinese relations with Israel will be ‘Downgraded’.

Moreover, China has adopted a tough stand against the countries and organisations supporting the independence and democracy of Taiwan. China, which claims that Taiwan is its sovereign territory, has boycotted the countries establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In this scenario, ‘Jerusalem Post’, a leading Israeli daily, published an interview with the Taiwanese Foreign Minister. The Israeli daily highlighted the criticism made by the Taiwanese Foreign Minister of the Chinese expansionist policies. During the interview, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu warned that Israel is dependent on China to a large extent. The Taiwanese Foreign Minister said, ‘China is a dictatorship and has its philosophy regarding trade. China uses trade as a weapon. We have seen in recent times that China has dealt with certain countries in this manner. Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Australia are examples. It is not in Israeli interest to depend on such a dictatorial country. I am confident that Israel, who attaches the highest priority to the national security, will take cognisance of this.’

The Taiwanese Foreign Minister advised that there should be no conditional cooperation with China. Because your defeat starts as soon as you accept the Chinese conditions. We give concessions to China, fearing that China will get upset and this is another Chinese victory. Therefore, there is no need to get confused thinking that China will get upset. Because this means we are treading the right path.’ At the same time, Joseph Wu warned that China was preparing to attack Taiwan. The Taiwanese Foreign Minister said that his country also was scheduled to face China. Reports are being received that China is agitated by the interview. In view of this restlessness, a diplomat from the Chinese embassy in Israel threatened Yaakov Katz, the chief editor of ‘The Jerusalem Post’, over the telephone. Katz informed ‘The diplomat demanded that the interview of the Taiwanese Foreign Minister should be completely erased. The diplomat warned that if this is not the case, China will curtail relations with Israel.’ Katz clarified that despite the Chinese threat, the interview of the Taiwanese Foreign Minister would not be deleted.