Beijing will never allow Taiwan to secede, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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As noted in a message published on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Yi outlined China’s principled position on the Taiwan issue and demanded that the United States “treat it with caution.”
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“Taiwan has been part of China’s territory since time immemorial, and we will never allow Taiwan to break away from China,” the Chinese Foreign Minister said.
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Wang Yi added that Washington, in three joint Sino-American communiqués, committed itself to adhering to the “one China” policy and should not break its promises.
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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.
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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.
