China pushes back on international parliamentary meeting in Taiwan

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - China pushed back on the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) annual conference which Taiwan joined Tuesday.

Beijing said the IPAC has “no credibility as there is only one China” in the world.

“Taiwan is an inseparable part of its territory,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing.

IPAC indicated that Taiwan joined the 40-country member parliamentary group where Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said the gathering was the “largest-ever multinational legislative delegation” to visit the island nation.

"China's threats to any country pose a threat to the world," said Lai.

He added that Taiwan wants to "collaborate with like-minded partners to establish a sustainable supply chain for democratic chips," according to the Focus Taiwan news website.

Taiwan is one of the largest manufacturers of semiconductor chips.

In Beijing, Lin charged IPAC with “always maliciously" hyping issues related to China.

"The so-called International Parliamentary Alliance on China has always spread lies and rumors about it, and has no credibility whatsoever," Lin said, adding that Taiwan is “purely China's internal affair and no external interference is tolerated.”

Forty-nine politicians from 24 nations on five continents attended the fourth annual conference of the group.

IPAC was founded in 2020 and has more than 250 lawmakers from 34 countries and the European Parliament.

​​​​​​​*Islamuddin Sajid contributed to this story