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sales by any country to Taiwan.
Reading from a prepared brief,
Mr Zhang continued that US arms sales to Taiwan constituted a
grave interference in the internal affairs of China, hampered
the return of Taiwan to the Motherland and peaceful reunification
of China; further, they violated the agreement reached on the
establishment of diplomatic relations and the recognised principles
of international law. Recently the leaders of China and America
had met in Cancun and Washington. Their talks had covered
bilateral relations and in particular arms sales to Taiwan.
Sino-US talks would contiue. In the joint communiqué issued on
the establishment of Sino-US relations the US had recognised that
there was only one China; that the Government of the People's
Repbulic of China was the sole legal Government of China; and
that Taiwan was part of China. The US was therefore not
entitled to sell arms to Taiwan in violation of international
law and the norms governing relations between states. In China's
view this problem had been left over by history: when China and
the US had reached agreement to establish diplomatic relations
it had remained unresolved. China had hoped that once diplomatic
relations were established it could be settled gradually but three years had now passed with no progress. There was a limit
to China's tolerance; such a state of affairs could not be
allowed to continue for too long.
15.
Mr Zhang said there was a mistaken body of opinion in the US that China's first consideration was for global strategy
and that as long as the US continued to oppose the Soviet Union
China would be prepared to swallow any bitter pill on other
matters. But China would spare no effort to safeguard its
sovereignty and territorial integrity. It was unimaginable that
China could on the one hand oppose hegemonism and on the other
allow the US to interfere in China's internal affairs. The
Chinese Government had frequently declared its hope that the Taiwan quesiton could be solved peacefully. On New Year's Day 1979 it published an open letter to Taiwan compatriots expressing the hope that Taiwan would quickly be reunited with the Motherland.
In September 1981 the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the
NPC, Ye Jianying, had put forward a nine-point proposal on
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/reunification.