China criticises Taiwan's aid to Ukraine and imposes sanctions on Russia
Key Takeaways:
- China has slammed Taiwan for failing to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine's war-torn country and impose sanctions on Russia.
- The Chinese spokesperson's remarks come just one day after Taiwan's foreign ministry announced a second $11.5 million donation to Ukraine for refugee assistance.
China has slammed Taiwan to provide humanitarian aid to war-torn Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia. Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, spoke at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday, accusing Taiwan of latching onto the Ukraine conflict for its purposes and exploiting others' difficulties.
"The authorities of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are using the Ukraine issue to legitimize their existence and piggyback on a hot topic, taking advantage of others' difficulties," Fenglian said.
She went on to say, "Their attempts to incite confrontation as well as create hostility through political manipulation will fail."
The Chinese spokesperson's comments come just one day after Taiwan's foreign ministry declared a second $11.5 million donation to Ukraine to aid refugees.
The first gift was $3.5 million in value.
"The Taiwanese people have displayed boundless compassion during this conflict," Taiwan foreign minister Joseph Wu said earlier.
Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan's president, donated one month's salary to Ukraine's relief efforts.
At the beginning of this month, Taiwan announced that it would join the SWIFT sanctions against Russian banks. SWIFT is an international payments network for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. Russia's access to global financial markets has been hampered due to a ban on this network.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which began on February 24 as a special military operation,' has elicited widespread support in Taiwan.
China has not used military force to retake Taiwan - a territory it claims - and has maintained pressure on Taiwanese airspace with frequent military incursions.