Washington's policy of playing the "Taiwan card" jeopardizes relations between China and the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2022) Washington's policy of playing the "Taiwan card" jeopardizes relations between China and the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the US and Taiwan have launched a new initiative to deepen bilateral economic links.
"Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. The government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. This is a consensus of the international community and a solemn commitment made by the US in the three China-US joint communiques. If the US insists on playing the Taiwan card, it will only lead China-US relations to a dangerous situation," Lijian said during a briefing.
Lijian added that China strongly opposes any form of official contact between the US and Taiwan, including negotiations and signing of agreements of an official nature.
The new US-Taiwan initiative stipulates that the sides will work in coordination with the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States to develop a roadmap, which would result in agreements with high-standard commitments and economically meaningful outcomes in such areas as trade facilitation, regulatory practices, agriculture, anti-corruption, supporting the environment and climate actions.
Taiwan alienated Beijing after becoming a stronghold of the Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang) that was defeated by the Communist Party in a civil war in 1949. The Chinese mainland and the island resumed business and informal contacts in the late 1980s. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign countries with Taiwan and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.
The US has supported pro-independence forces in Taiwan and sold the island weapons. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said that the One China principle is a political foundation of China-US relations and that violations by Washington of its own obligations have been jeopardizing cooperation between the two countries, threatening peace and stability.
