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Taiwan not a top priority for Beijing because it’s too distracted, Taipei mayor says
- Mainland China has other issues to worry about, including protest-hit Hong Kong and a slowing economy, according to Ko Wen-je
- He also says US wouldn’t let the self-ruled island become formally independent or be taken over by the mainland
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Beijing has too many other issues to worry about at the moment – from protests in Hong Kong to a slowing economy – to give much thought to Taiwan, the mayor of Taipei, sometimes seen as a potential future president, said on Thursday.
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Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je, who has advocated for better relations with the mainland, said that while Taiwan was important to the mainland, it was not currently the “core issue” that Beijing likes to portray.
“They say that Taiwan is a core issue, but I’m very clear that it isn’t. Taiwan is not China’s core issue,” he said.
“In comparison to Hong Kong, to Xinjiang, Taiwan is not on the top of the priority list. For mainland China, there are their economic problems, their GDP has already fallen to below 7 per cent,” Ko added in an interview, where he switched between Mandarin and English.
Hong Kong has been rocked by anti-government protests for nearly six months, the biggest challenge to President Xi Jinping since he took charge in 2012. China has come under international opprobrium for locking up a million or more Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang as part of what it calls a deradicalisation programme.
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In any case, Ko said, the United States – Taiwan’s most important international backer even in the absence of diplomatic ties – would not let Taiwan become formally independent or be taken over by the mainland.
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