Both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China. Taiwan is part of China’s territory. Although the two sides have been politically against each other for a long time, China’s state sovereignty and territorial integrity has never been split.
This is the real status quo of the Taiwan question. However, the US and “Taiwan independence” separatist forces are persistently trying to change the status quo and hollowing out the one-China principle, jeopardising peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. This is the fundamental cause of tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
The US and Taiwan have made provocations together first, whereas China has been compelled to act in self-defence accordingly. On 2nd August, in disregard of China’s strong opposition and serious warning, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited China’s Taiwan region. It is a grave interference of China’s domestic affairs that upgraded substantive exchanges between the US and Taiwan. It is a serious violation of the one-China principle and three China-US joint communiqués. It is a grave undermining of the peace and stability in Taiwan region.
To safeguard China’s own legitimate rights and prevent from an even bigger crisis, China has conducted military drills in the waters off the Taiwan Island. This is both necessary and justified, not only to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also as a countermeasure to separatist elements and external forces.
However, the US ganged up several countries to prop up a statement, blindly blaming China’s self-defence while turning a blind eye to the US’s previous unwarranted provocation. A typical example of a thief crying “stop thief” here only makes clear that the US is the biggest saboteur of peace in the Taiwan Strait and the biggest troublemaker to regional stability.
The US side has been distorting, obscuring and hollowing out the one-China principle to serve its strategic goal of disrupting and containing China’s development, in ways of playing the “Taiwan card” to contain China, upgrading its contact with Taiwan and increasing arms sales to Taiwan.
In recent years, the US has not matched its words with deeds. Instead, it has been distorting, altering, obscuring, and hollowing out the one-China principle and trying to cross red lines and pushing the boundaries. The US is perpetrating the fraud on Taiwan question by hook or by crook, claiming that the unilaterally concocted “Taiwan Relations Act” and “Six Assurances” are also part of what guides the policy. The US has even at one point dropped key formulations such as “Taiwan is part of China” from the website of the State Department.
Using words as “threatening”, “aggressive” and “coercion”, US and its tiny-minority allies said they were concerned about China’s justified countermeasures and “There is no change in the respective one China policies, where applicable, and basic positions on Taiwan of the G7 members”. What is “applicable” or “inapplicable”? Obviously, the ulterior motive is to leave a back door for them to further distort and hollow out the one-China principle.
The Speaker Pelosi fabricates the fallacy of “democracy vs. authoritarianism”, claiming that “congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan honours America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy. America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.”
In fact, what she has done is definitely anything except upholding or defending democracy, but a brazen upgrade of exchanges between the US and Taiwan, a collusion with “Taiwan independence” separatist forces, and in essence, a provocation and infringement on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Looking around the world, the US, a self-claimed Beacon country, is in utter disorder with domestic affairs and believed to move down the wrong path by its people. Internationally, the US is notorious for interfering in others’ internal affairs, waging wars and invading other countries, holding a record of sanguinary crimes. Now it is trying to repeat these ugly tricks with China, which is, obviously, miscalculated and futile.
In a word, it has been proved through history and practices that one-China principle underpins peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. When the one-China principle is fully recognised and earnestly followed, the Taiwan Strait would remain calm and tranquil. When the one-China principle is wantonly challenged or even damaged, there would be dark clouds or even violent storms across the Taiwan Strait.
The Former US President Abraham Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”, and even decided to launch a civil war to preserve the Union. Similarly, the move to change status quo across Taiwan Strait by the US and “Taiwan independence” separatist forces must be stopped. China will not back down.
Dr Ruan Zongze – Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China in Brisbane
This post kindly provided to us by one of our many occasional contributors.
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