Hong Kong-China accused the United States on Monday of a “serious regression” in its position on Taiwan, after the State Department updated the Taiwan section of its website to eliminate a reference to the independence of the claimed island By Beijing.
The State Department Informative Sheet on relations between the United States and Taiwan continues to say the opposition of Washington to any unilateral change in the status quo of China or Taiwan, a self -compliant democracy that rejects the statements of sovereignty of Beijing. But the phrase “we do not support Taiwan’s independence” seems to have been eliminated on Thursday in what the State Department says it was a routine update.
Taiwan applauded the change, while China said that “sends an incorrect signal to Taiwan’s independence forces” and urged the United States to “immediately correct this error.”
The United States must “stop using Taiwan to control China” and “stop tolerating and supporting the independence of Taiwan,” said the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of China, Guo Jiakun, in a regular informative session in Beijing. “This will help avoid more serious damage to relations with China-United States and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
The same phrase not supporting Taiwan’s independence was eliminated from the State Department Data sheet in 2022 during the Biden administration before being restored a few weeks later.
The United States, like most countries, has no official relations with Taiwan, but it is its most important international sponsor, and the law requires that the law provide the island to 23 million people with defensive weapons.
Beijing, who has not ruled out the use of force to affirm its sovereignty claims, is extremely sensitive to any sign of international recognition of Taiwan, which describes as its “core of central interests.”
Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China, says it is already an independent country. His government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communist forces of Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China.
The United States has recognized RPC as China’s only legal government since it established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1979, recognizing Beijing’s statement that Taiwan is part of China, but has no official positions on Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The State Department said that the United States’s position on Taiwan’s independence had not changed and that the United States remained committed to its “One China” policy.
“The United States is committed to preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” said a state department spokesman in an email on Sunday.
“We oppose any unilateral change to the status quo on each side. We support the dialogue through the Strait, and we hope that cross extension differences will be resolved by peaceful means, free of coercion, in an acceptable way for people on both sides of the Strait. ”
The State Department’s website has also been changed to add a reference to Taiwan cooperation with a pentagon technology and a semiconductor development project and to say that the United States will continue to support Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, “included The membership when appropriate. “
China has constantly opposed Taiwan membership in international organizations such as the World Health Organization.
The changes to the website were praised by Taiwan, whose Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lin Chia-Lung, said in a statement on Sunday that his ministry welcomed with approval “support and positive position on relations between the United States and Taiwan” They demonstrated.
Although President Donald Trump has baffled Taiwan with recent comments that require the island to pay more for his defense and acknowledge it to steal business from US semiconductors, his administration has also made strong statements of support to Taipei.
Last week, two ships from the US Navy. A Canadian war ship also sailed through the Strait on Sunday, taking out Beijing’s conviction.
In recent years, Taiwan has had a growing military pressure and another type of China, which sends combat and boat planes to the island almost daily.
On Monday, the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 41 Chinese military aircraft, nine Chinese naval ships and an “official ship” that operates around Taiwan in 24 hours at 6 am local time (5 pm from Domingo et ), with 28 of the airplanes that crossed the median line that had previously served as an unofficial shock absorber in the Taiwan Strait.
