China hopes the five African nations that have no diplomatic relations
with it will "take the right stand" and adhere to the one-China policy, Foreign
Minister Li Zhaoxing said at a press conference Sunday.
"These five countries used to be friendly with China, too, and we never did
them any harm. On the contrary, it was their governments that harmed the Chinese
people's feelings," he told Chinese and foreign reporters after the Beijing
Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the largest gathering between
Chinese and African leaders that closed Sunday afternoon.
Until today, these countries are still isolating themselves from the absolute
majority of the international society by maintaining the so-called "diplomatic
ties" with the Chinese island province of Taiwan, he said.
"I'd say it's an abasement of its own national status for a sovereign state
to maintain the so-called 'diplomatic ties' with part, or a province, of another
sovereign state."
Needless to say, such an act violates the relevant resolutions of the UN
General Assembly and constitutes interference in China's internal affairs, he
said, adding "We hope the governments of these countries will come back to the
right stand by adhering to the one-China policy."
China has established diplomatic ties with 169 countries and more than 130
international organizations including the United Nations, all of which uphold
the one-China policy and acknowledge the fact that Taiwan is part of China.
All the 48 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China are
present at the two-day landmark gathering in Beijing. The remaining five
countries were also invited to participate the summit as observers but none of
them did.
On the eve of the summit, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said China
would respect the decision by the five nations without diplomatic ties with
China on whether or not they would send delegations.
"However, China believes that they will finally accept the one-China
principle, which has well been recognized by the international community", Liu
told a briefing Friday.