PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha today (Nov. 25) refused to comment on Thaiand not being invited to the Summit for Democracy US is holding next month, Amarin TV said.
Reporters asked Prayut what signal is being given by US in not inviting Thailand to this summit just before he presided over a plaque award ceremony honouring 10 model communities in Lampang province but he just kept quiet.
Altogether 110 countries have been invited to the virtual summit, taking place on Dec. 9-10, but as expected China and Russia have not been included while Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines will be participating.
Meanwhile China’s government has accused US Preisdnet Joe Biden of “a mistake” in inviting Taiwan to participate in the democracy summit alongside 109 other democratic governments, The Guardian said.
Taiwan was included in a list of participants for next month’s Summit for Democracy, published by the state department on Tuesday. Taiwan is a democracy and self-governing, but Beijing claims it is a province of China and has accused its government of separatism.
The inaugural gathering is considered a test of Biden’s pledge that he would return the US to a position asserting global leadership to challenge authoritarian forces led by China and Russia.
On Wednesday, Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said the inclusion of Taiwan was a “mistake” and Beijing opposed “any official interaction between the US and China’s Taiwan region”.
“This stance is clear and consistent. We urge the US to stick to the ‘one China’ principle and the three joint communiques,” she said.
The US’s ‘one China’ policy acknowledges that Beijing claims Taiwan as a province but does not say it recognises the claim.
Since taking office, Biden and the White House have reiterated long-standing US support for its “one China” policy, which officially recognises Beijing rather than Taipei, but also said the US “strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”.
A spokesman for Taiwan’s presidential office thanked Biden for the summit invitation, and said they would be “a force for good in international society”.
CAPTIONS:
Top: US President Joe Biden. Photo Getty Images and published by BBC
Home Page: The US “one China” policy acknowledges that Beijing claims Taiwan as a province but does not say it recognises the claim. Photo: Daniel Ceng Shou-Yi/Zuma Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock and published by The Guardian
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