Chinese official irked by Swiss politicians’ planned Taiwan visit

Geopolitical tensions have flared since the visit to Taiwan of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

The Chinese consul general in Zurich has said a trip by Swiss parliamentarians to Taiwan next year would be “disruptive” and unhelpful for Swiss-China relations.

“Parliamentarians are official representatives of a country, not simple citizens,” Zhao Qinghua told the Schaffhauser Nachtrichten newspaper on Saturday. He added that such a visit would impact the foundations of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and China – notably Beijing’s view of Taiwan as one of its provinces, without any right to state-to-state diplomatic relations.

“Disregarding the One-China principle amounts to a violation of China’s sovereignty, a meddling in its domestic affairs, and an infringement of its fundamental interests,” Zhao said.

The consul general was commenting on a planned visit to Taipei by the Swiss-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group, mooted for next year. It would not be the first such visit by Swiss politicians; but following raised geopolitical tensions around the island, and the high-profile visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August, the current plans of the Swiss deputies have come into focus. Already in August, in a statement to the Le Temps newspaper, the Chinese Ambassador in Switzerland expressed Beijing’s opposition to any such contact with Taiwanese politicians.

Officially, Switzerland does not recognise the island as a sovereign state – but it does maintain ties through other channels, notably trade, as well as unofficial visits, such as those by the parliamentary friendship group.

‘Positive ties’

Zhao nevertheless told the Schaffhauser Nachrichten that in general relations between China and Switzerland were positive, and that both countries were still working to negotiate an upgrade to the free trade agreement they signed in 2014.

Earlier this year, Swiss media had reported that the talks had stalled due to Bern’s harsher stance on the human rights situation in China, particularly the treatment of the Uyghur minority in the northwest region of Xinjiang. China was quick to deny any suggestion that the talks had frozen.

For his part, Zhao said on Saturday that “human rights considerations should not be included in [the free trade] process”.