China opposes inclusion of Taiwan-related content in US bill

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠A Chinese mainland spokeswoman on Wednesday voiced firm opposition to the inclusion of Taiwan-related content in U.S. Congress bills.

The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to pass a 95-billion-U.S. dollar foreign aid bill for providing arms funds to U.S. allies like Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.   

"The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair and brooks no external interference. The inclusion of Taiwan-related content in U.S. Congress' bills seriously violates the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and sends a wrong signal to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces. We firmly oppose it and urge the U.S. to take concrete actions to honor its commitment of not supporting Taiwan independence and stop arming Taiwan in any way. The pursuit of peace, development, communication and cooperation rather than war, recession, separation and confrontation is the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan. The DPP authorities ignore the public opinion and choose to serve as a pawn of external forces to contain China, pushing Taiwan into a dangerous situation. We make clear to the DPP authorities that any attempt to seek Taiwan independence by force or rely on external forces to seek Taiwan independence is doomed to failure," said Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office at a press conference in Beijing.

"We hope that Taiwanese compatriots could fully understand the danger of DPP authorities' collusion with external forces, oppose Taiwan independence and work with us to promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and the integrated development of the two sides, and jointly build up a peaceful homeland for compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Only this can bring tangible benefits to Taiwan compatriots," she continued.

China opposes inclusion of Taiwan-related content in US bill

The global manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) declined to 49.9 percent in April, 0.4 percentage points lower than in March, but slightly higher than the first quarter average of 49.6 percent, according to data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) on Monday.

Analysts said since the beginning of this year, the global economy is recovering at a modest pace, which has changed major economic organizations' expectations for global economic growth.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently raised its forecast for global GDP growth in 2024 to 3.1 percent from the previous 2.9 percent. Similarly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts the world economy to grow at 3.2 percent during 2024, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from its forecast earlier in January.

Experts said that global economic prospects remain fraught with uncertainties, largely generated from countries' monetary and fiscal policies, relatively weak demand growth momentum and geopolitical conflicts.

"In order to further consolidate the momentum of global manufacturing and economic recovery, I think it is necessary for major countries to strengthen both macro policy coordination and macro control, to ensure the stability of the foreign exchange market and the financial system. At the same time, efforts should be made to strengthen economic and trade cooperation, to lay a solid foundation for global economic recovery," said Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the Economic Policy Commission under the China Association of Policy Science.

Global manufacturing PMI down in April