A report in Taipei Times on December 10, 2017, quoted a senior US-based PRC diplomat as saying "Cross-strait ties are none of the US’ business and do not need to rely on the mediation of any other nation". Li Kexin, Minister in the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, made the remarks on Friday at an explanatory session at the Chinese Embassy in Washington about the 19th Party Congress and US President Donald Trump’s visit to China last month. Describing the Taiwan issue as still a challenge to US-China relations, Li Kexin said he went to the US Capitol and told US officials that “I may have to thank you American friends.” Asked by officials what he meant with those words, Li Kexin replied “I said: ‘Are you not going to send military vessels to Taiwan, to Kaohsiung...? If you send military vessels over there, [you] will activate the Anti-Secession Law [of China],” Li said on Friday. Li Lexin asserted that he was not joking, adding that US military vessels need to obtain China’s approval to visit Shanghai and if they want to visit Taiwan, China will definitely disapprove.
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