Washington must respect the “one China” principle and not send the wrong signals to separatist forces advocating Taiwan’s “independence,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday.
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Earlier, US President Joe Biden, in an interview with Time, said that he would allow the involvement of the US military to help Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion of the island. At the same time, Biden refused to answer the question of whether the United States could use its bases in the Philippines and Japan to carry out strikes.
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“We call on the United States… to stop sending false signals in any form to the pro-Taiwan separatist forces,” Mao Ning said.
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The diplomat stressed that Beijing calls on the United States to stop supplying weapons to the island, sincerely abide by the “one China” principle and the provisions of the three joint communiqués, and abide by its commitment not to support “Taiwan independence.”
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Mao Ning noted that no amount of pressure or threats can shake the firm determination, firm will and great ability of the Chinese government and people to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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“Taiwan is an integral part of the territory of China, the Taiwan issue is exclusively an internal matter of China and does not tolerate any external interference,” the diplomat added, emphasizing that the people of China will independently determine how to resolve this issue.
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Beijing considers Taiwan an integral part of the PRC, and adherence to the “one China” principle is a prerequisite for other states wishing to establish or maintain diplomatic relations with the PRC. The “one China” principle and non-recognition of Taiwan’s independence are also observed by the United States, despite the fact that they maintain close contacts with Taipei in various fields and supply the island with weapons.
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The situation around Taiwan worsened significantly after Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited the island in early August 2022. China, which considers the island one of its provinces, condemned Pelosi’s visit as US support for Taiwanese separatism and held large-scale military exercises.
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Official relations between the central government of China and its island province were interrupted in 1949 after the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, defeated in the civil war with the Chinese Communist Party, moved to Taiwan. Business and informal contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s. Since the early 1990s, the parties began to contact through non-governmental organizations – the Beijing Association for the Development of Relations across the Taiwan Strait and the Taipei Cross-Strait Exchange Foundation.
