Taiwan is calling on the United States to avoid “unnecessary speculation or misunderstanding” after the White House potentially caused confusion when it deleted a tweet that contained the Taiwan flag in it on Wednesday.
The tweet was posted by the White House COVID-19 Response Team and included a picture about the United States’ vaccine distribution around the world, per The Hill. The United States recently donated Moderna COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Taiwan. The post reportedly included the flag of Taiwan with flags of other places receiving the shots. The post was later removed.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen reportedly re-tweeted the post, writing: “Thank you to the U.S. for your generosity. Together, we will beat this pandemic.”
As reported by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesman said that using the Taiwan flag in the social media post was “an honest mistake” by the group working on social media and images that should not be interpreted as a change in U.S. international policy with regard to Taipei, “under which Washington does not formally recognize Taiwan’s government,” the outlet noted.
Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou spoke of the deletion of the post.
“Regarding the reason for the deletion of this tweet, as the media has different interpretations, the Foreign Ministry has asked the representative office in the United States to remind the United States not to cause unnecessary speculation or misunderstanding from all walks of life due to the removal of the related tweet,” she said.
The NSC spokesman said, “The United States remains committed to our one-China policy,” adding, “Our policy has been clear for decades and has not changed.”
Although the United States is helpful to Taiwan, it does not recognize or support its independence and rather sees it as part of China. Any recognition of Taiwan as being separate from the People’s Republic of China, therefore, might create a stir in international diplomacy or anger the Chinese government.
As noted by the U.S. State Department’s website, “The 1979 U.S.-P.R.C. Joint Communique switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. In the Joint Communique, the United States recognized the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, acknowledging the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.”
“The United States does not support Taiwan independence. Maintaining strong, unofficial relations with Taiwan is a major U.S. goal, in line with the U.S. desire to further peace and stability in Asia,” it added.
The Taiwanese foreign ministry recently responded to Biden administration official Kurt Campbell’s remarks about Taiwan this week. “Taiwan’s foreign ministry stated on Wednesday that the self-ruled island is a sovereign state which seeks to maintain a stable relationship with mainland China and wants to safeguard its free and democratic system,” the South China Morning Post reported.
The United States’ actions with regard to Taiwan this year have created the potential for disapproval from China. When three senators went to Taiwan to accompany the donation of the 750,000 vaccine doses earlier this year, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua criticized the move, per The Hill.
“Once again challenging Beijing’s red line over the Taiwan question,” Xinhua said. It added that senators traveled to Taiwan to “stage an anti-China political farce and offer some symbolic support for the current Taiwan authorities that are overwhelmed by the raging pandemic situation in the island.”
“Such a treacherous move of Washington has nothing to do with fighting COVID-19 as it claimed, and will only increase tensions in the region,” Xinhua said.
Earlier this year, actor John Cena apologized in Chinese after he referred to Taiwan as a “country” in an interview, which led many to point out the deep ties between Hollywood and China.
“On May 8, TVBS released a video of Cena excitedly promoting the film ‘Fast & Furious 9’ in Mandarin for Taiwanese audiences,” Taiwan News reported. “In the video, Cena emphasized that ‘Taiwan will be the first country to see Fast & Furious 9,’ and speaking to Taiwanese viewers, he reiterated, ‘You are the first to see this movie.’”
As The Daily Wire reported, “Online backlash ensued and Cena rushed to apologize to communist China for offending them.”
According to the South China Morning Post, Cena said:
Hi China, I’m John Cena. I’m in the middle of Fast and Furious 9 promotions. I’m doing a lot of interviews. I made a mistake in one of my interviews. Everyone was asking me if I could use Chinese – [movie] staff gave me a lot of information, so there was a lot of interviews and information.
I made one mistake. I have to say something very, very, very important now. I love and respect China and Chinese people. I’m very, very sorry about my mistake. I apologize, I apologize, I’m very sorry. You must understand that I really love, really respect China and the Chinese people. My apologies. See you.