US told to handle affairs of Taiwan with caution

Beijing said on Monday that the United States should handle the Taiwan question with caution to avoid severely damaging bilateral ties and peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits after the US was reported to be mulling allowing Taiwan to change the name of its representative office in Washington.

Reports said the Biden administration was giving serious consideration to a request from the Taiwan administration to change the name of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to Taiwan Representative Office.

China has lodged stern representations with the US over such moves, Zhao Lijian, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a daily news briefing.

Zhao said the Taiwan question is the most important and sensitive core issue in Sino-US relations, with the one-China principle as the political foundation.

The US side had made clear promises in the Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the two countries that the people of the US would only maintain unofficial cultural, commercial and other relations with the people of Taiwan, Zhao said.

Zhao said US President Joe Biden said the US side had no intention to change the country's one-China policy in his phone call with President Xi Jinping on Friday.

"The US side should earnestly abide by the one-China principle and stipulations of the three Sino-US Joint Communiques and take concrete actions to deliver its relevant promises," he said.

It should refrain from conducting official contacts in any form and elevating substantial relations, including the name change, and stop sending wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatists, Zhao said.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, condemned the ruling Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan on Monday for its attempt to seek "independence" via the proposed name change, which would include the word "Taiwan" for its representative office in the US.

Zhu said the DPP administration will be doomed to fail no matter what trick it plays for "Taiwan independence".

Taiwan is part of China, she said, adding that, "We firmly oppose any form of official ties or establishment of official institutions between the Taiwan region and countries that have diplomatic relations with China."

The Foreign Ministry announced on Aug 10 that China had decided to recall its ambassador to Lithuania and demanded the Lithuanian government recall its ambassador to China after the Lithuanian government decided to allow the island administration to open a so-called representative office under the name of "Taiwan" despite China's repeated representations.

Zhao Jia contributed to this story.