-Says “political manipulation” will not succeed in changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait
BEIJING: The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday slammed the United States for distorting facts over the Taiwan region, urging it to honor its commitment to the one-China principle.
It is reported that the U.S. State Department deleted the wordings that “Taiwan is part of China” and that “the U.S. does not support Taiwan independence” in an updated version of a document on its website on May 5.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a regular press briefing in Beijing that the latest trick by the U.S. side aims at hollowing out the one-China principle.
Such acts of political manipulation that attempt to change the status quo in the Taiwan Straits will get those playing with fire burnt, Zhao said.
“History cannot be falsified. Facts cannot be denied. And the right and the wrong cannot be distorted,” he said.
At the briefing, the spokesperson also reiterated that there is only one China in the world, that the Taiwan region is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, and that the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.
“This is an overwhelming consensus of the international community and a widely recognized norm governing international relations,” said Zhao.
During a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November, U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed that the U.S. does not support “Taiwan independence.”
The U.S. side should follow up the president’s remarks with action, and stop seeking to use Taiwan to contain China, said the Chinese spokesperson.
China and the US had agreed to continue to maintain close contact through various means and bring bilateral relations back to the right track of sound and steady development in a virtual meeting between the two heads of state in November last year.
The meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden was “candid, constructive, substantive and productive,” and major topics of concern including the Taiwan question, trade and climate change topped the agenda. The highly-anticipated virtual meeting came after a year of ups and downs in bilateral ties.
–The Daily Mai-CGTN news exchange item
