The French media “Alphabet A” revealed today that the Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shano, sent a second letter to the members of the Senate’s Friends of Taiwan group in an attempt to obstruct the visit to Taiwan. The letter also threatens China with sanctions if France continues to support Taiwan’s participation in international organizations. For the French Foreign Ministry, this new letter from the Chinese ambassador is seen as an attempt by Beijing to escalate tensions, according to the media analysis.
The Chinese ambassador to France has sent a second letter to French lawmakers and threatened sanctions for further support to Taiwan. According to a report by the Central News Agency (CNA) today, the Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shanno, sent a letter on February 18 in an attempt to obstruct the senator’s visit to Taiwan, which was kicked up by La Lettre A, a French online media outlet specializing in exclusive political and economic information, causing an uproar in the French political, academic and social media. The Chinese embassy’s Twitter account even confronted Antoine Bondaz, a researcher at the French Foundation for Strategic Studies (FRS), calling him a “rogue”.
According to “La Lettre A”, the Chinese ambassador to France has not changed his tough attitude after being summoned by the French Foreign Ministry on March 23. According to La Lettre A’s sources, Roussano wrote a second letter to Alain Richard, chairman of the Senate’s Friendship Group. The letter is dated March 25, two days after Lusano was summoned by the Foreign Ministry and met with Bertrand Lortholary, the Foreign Ministry’s director of Asian affairs.
In the more than two-page letter, “Lusano is attempting to retaliate against the Senate’s plan to visit Taiwan, which he sees as an ‘infringement,'” according to “Letter A. However, such congressional trips have been held five times since 2015 and have never elicited such a violent reaction.” The Foreign Ministry is also reported to have been informed of the second letter.
According to the report, in this letter, the Chinese ambassador breaks down the relations between Paris and Beijing towards Taiwan since the 1970s. In addition, “Roussano explicitly threatened that France would face sanctions if it pushed too actively for Taiwan’s participation in international organizations”.
For the French Foreign Ministry, the new letter is seen as an attempt by Beijing to raise tensions, the report said.
In an undisclosed Senate hearing, Lolari made it clear that the itinerary of France’s Taiwan-friendly group does not require prior consultation with the foreign minister, meaning that senators have complete freedom to plan their congressional visits. “However, the visit to Taiwan, scheduled for July, has been given a new political meaning due to a series of pressures from Beijing,” noted La Lettre A.
For its part, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry formally protested Lusano’s remarks and prepared to welcome the French lawmaker’s visit, the source said.
Faced with Chinese pressure, the Friends of Taiwan group also offered a countermeasure. More than 20 lawmakers, including Richard Li, introduced a resolution in late March to support Taiwan’s participation in international bodies as an observer, “a reason to go to war for the Xi Jinping regime.”
According to La Lettre A, Taiwan has suffered from Beijing’s strangulation tactics and international isolation since the early 1970s. “The country is currently unrepresented in all international organizations and seeks to be represented in bodies such as the World Health Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization, Interpol, etc.”
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