Kaohsiung (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Dozens of protesters demonstrated in front of the de facto US mission in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, yesterday after US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte criticised Taiwanese attempts to re-join the United Nations.
Before police could intervene, demonstrators trampled on the Stars and Stripes, burnt it and unfurled protest banners, including one that read: “Oppose US bullying of Taiwan.”
The incident was provoked when a senior White House official, Dennis Wilder, said last week that Taiwan was not a state and so could not become a member of the United Nations.
He was followed a few days later by the second in command in the State department, John Negroponte, who criticised Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian for trying to regain a United Nations seat.
Mr Negroponte warned that Washington opposed Taiwan's UN referendum and saw it as a step towards a declaration of Taiwanese independence and a violation of the status quo.