China sends warnings over Taiwan question

Beijing sent stern warnings on Monday to countries including the United States and Japan over their erroneous remarks and actions regarding the Taiwan question.

The US State Department on Thursday updated its website's "US Relations With Taiwan" fact sheet page and deleted the text vowing that the US does not support "Taiwan independence".

Such a change to the fact sheet is "a serious backpedaling step in its position on Taiwan", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a daily news briefing.

The move "seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, as well as international law and the basic norms of international relations", Guo said.

This "sends a seriously wrong signal to the separatist forces for 'Taiwan independence'" and is "another example of the US stubbornly persisting in its wrong policy of using Taiwan to contain China", he added.

Dong Xudong, founding president of the North California Hebei Association, told China Daily that the administration of US President Donald Trump "contains uncertainty and instability regarding its China policy".

"It demonstrates the lack of maturity and adeptness in the US foreign policy, and should be reprimanded. We need to stay vigilant and pay close attention to the next move of the US," Dong said.

Guo, the spokesman, also mentioned the prevailing consensus within the international community that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of China.

"It is also a solemn commitment made by the US side in the three China-US joint communiques", he said. "History should not be tampered with, facts should not be denied, and right and wrong should not be distorted."

China demands that the US correct its mistakes immediately, faithfully observe the one-China principle and the three joint communiques, and handle the Taiwan question with great care and prudence.

Beijing asks Washington to stop using Taiwan to contain China, stop upgrading the substantive relationship between the US and Taiwan, stop helping Taiwan to expand its space in the international arena, stop condoning or supporting "Taiwan independence", and avoid further serious damage to China-US relations and the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, Guo said.

Zhang Ruwei, founding president of the Shandong Friendship Association of California, said the US action confuses the public, is deliberately disruptive, and impedes the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait. "It's provocative and not acceptable," Zhang said.

He Konghua, president of the Beijing Association of Northern California, said: "The relentless and capricious policies of a major country like the United States are simply disgraceful. Taiwan is China's territory, how to solve the Taiwan question is China's internal affair. No country has the right to dictate. And it is just like a mantis that tries to block a wheel, a doomed failure."

As the Democratic Progressive Party authorities expressed gratitude for this latest move by Washington, State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian warned the DPP authorities on Monday that "relying on the US for seeking independence" will surely meet a dead end.

"No matter how Taiwan and the US collude, they cannot change … the general trend that China surely will and must be reunified," Zhu said.

Separately, Japan's Ministry of Justice has revised its ordinance, allowing naturalized Japanese citizens to list their place of origin as a specific region, rather than just a country, in their family register. This change will enable individuals originally from Taiwan to list "Taiwan" instead of "China" as their place of origin.

Responding to the news, Guo said compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all Chinese, and the Taiwan question "allows no interference by any external forces".

"Japan invaded and colonized Taiwan, it bears a serious historical crime against the Chinese people, and it should have been even more cautious in its words and actions," he said.

Beijing urges Tokyo to strictly abide by the one-China principle and the spirit of the four landmark China-Japan political documents, and refrain from making petty moves and sending conflicting and erroneous signals on the Taiwan question, he added.

In another development, the US-Japan-South Korea trilateral foreign ministers' meeting in Munich, Germany, expressed in a joint statement on Saturday their support for Taiwan's "meaningful participation" in international organizations.

In Monday's briefing, Guo said that China "has made solemn representations to the countries concerned".

"We have always been firmly opposed to the relevant countries' assembling for cliques, interfering in China's internal affairs, attacking and smearing China, and inciting confrontation and antagonism," Guo said.

"Taiwan's participation in the activities of international organizations must and can only be handled in accordance with the one-China principle," he said.

Chang Jun in San Francisco contributed to this story.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn