Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang responded to the summoning of US diplomats from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama in his remarks during the press conference on 10 September 2018 at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. He remarked after the US recalled its top diplomats after El Salvador’s decision to establish diplomatic ties with China. The Dominican Republic had done so in May 2018. Panama had signed with China in June 2017. In Central America, Costa Rica was the first to sign with China, back in 2007.
In his remarks, Shuang observed: “A sovereign country can choose with whom it wishes to develop diplomatic ties, because it has the right to do so. Such right should be respected, and other countries are in no position to say otherwise.”
Shuang also had some advice for the United States authorities:
“Our advice for the relevant country is that it should not forget the fact that it established diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China decades ago on the basis of acknowledging the one-China principle. It should adopt a correct view of other countries’ establishment of diplomatic ties with China, cautiously and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from further saying or doing anything irresponsible for the sake of its own image and cross-Strait peace and stability.”
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China Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Washington Post
11 September 2018
