US-proposed Taiwan bill strongly opposed

Draft would provide the island with $4.5 billion in security assistance

A Chinese mainland spokeswoman on Wednesday strongly opposed a possible Taiwan-related bill by the United States that aims to bolster the island's "defense" capabilities against the mainland, saying that any attempt of "Taiwan independence" will never succeed.

The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is set to review a draft of the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 on Wednesday, which was described by its sponsors as "the most comprehensive restructuring of US policy toward Taiwan "since the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979.

The bipartisan bill sponsored by US senators Bob Menendez and Lindsey Graham would provide Taiwan with about $4.5 billion in security assistance over the next four years and recognize the island as a "major non-NATO ally".

The legislation would also allow Taiwan to rename its office in the US from the "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office" to the "Taiwan Representative Office".

Zhu Fenglian, the spokeswoman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a news conference in Beijing that the Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair, which brooks no outside interference.

The drafting of the Taiwan-related bill by the US lawmakers seriously violates basic norms governing international relations, the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, she said. "We firmly oppose it."

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party authorities in Taiwan have used every means to persuade some US senators to draft the bill for its attempt of realizing "Taiwan independence", which will never succeed, she said.

Chiu Yi, a Taiwan-based cross-Straits expert, said in a post on his Facebook page, that once passed, the US would openly destroy its one-China policy, and relations between the US and Taiwan would be close to official.

If that happened, the mainland would not sit idle and let the US manipulate "one China, one Taiwan" to undermine the status quo across the Taiwan Straits, he wrote.

Separately, Zhu denounced Chiu Tai-san, head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, who claimed last week that the island doesn't accept any arrangement to resolve the Taiwan question and urged easing the current situation in the Straits.

The remarks came after the People's Liberation Army conducted military drills around Taiwan in response to a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier in August, despite strong opposition from the mainland.

Zhu said Chiu made the remarks to hide the fact that it was the DPP administration who relied on the US to seek "independence" that caused tensions across the Straits.

Only by returning to the common political foundation of the 1992 Consensus that embodies the one-China principle can cross-Straits relations improve, and can peace and stability across the Straits be effectively guaranteed, she said.

No matter how the cross-Straits situation changes, the consensus that marked its 30th anniversary this year remains the anchor for cross-Straits relations.