The status quo of the Taiwan Strait is that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China, Taiwan is part of China, and neither China’s sovereignty nor its territorial integrity is ever divided. Right now, the Taiwan Strait is facing a new round of tensions. The fundamental cause lies in the repeated moves by the US side and the Taiwan authorities to change the status quo, and to violate and challenge the one-China principle. The related responsibility and consequences must be borne by the US side and the “Taiwan independence” separatist forces.

The US side keeps violating its commitments in the three China-US joint communiqués and doing its utmost to undermine and pressurize China, exploiting Taiwan as a convenient tool. The US clearly pledged in the China-US Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations that it will maintain unofficial relations with Taiwan. In recent years, however, the US greenlighted and connived at visits to Taiwan by senior officials including the House Speaker, who is considered a US leader. The US pledged in the August 17 Communiqué released in 1982 that “it intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution”. However, the US has actually kept increasing arms sales to Taiwan in both qualitative and quantitative terms, with the total volume to date exceeding US$70 billion, including over US$1.1 billion of arms sales approved by the US recently. The US also reiterated in the August 17 Communiqué that “it has no intention of pursuing a policy of  ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan’.” However, it has been assisting Taiwan in expanding its so-called “international space” and even openly helped Taiwan consolidate its so-called “diplomatic relations”. The US’s moves to fudge, hollow out and distort its one-China commitment have become even more blatant. In recent years, the US has inserted more preconditions and provisos into its one-China policy such as the “Taiwan Relations Act” and the “Six Assurances”, which were unilaterally concocted and have never been recognized and have been firmly opposed to by China from the very beginning. The US has also been colluding more with the Taiwan authorities and flexing muscles around the Taiwan Strait to bolster “Taiwan independence” separatist forces. Which sovereign state can allow another one to interfere in its internal affairs at will?

The DPP authorities have insisted on adopting the “Taiwan independence” separatist stance and conducted successive provocative actions designed to divide the country. This is another root cause of the current tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Since the DPP came into power, they refuse to recognize the one-China principle, and distort and deny the 1992 Consensus. They assert that Taiwan and the mainland should not be subordinate to each other, and proclaim a new “two states” theory. On the island, they constantly press for “de-sinicization” and promote “incremental independence”. They incite radical separatists in and outside the DPP to lobby for amendments to their “constitution” and “laws”. They deceive the people of Taiwan, incite hostility against the mainland, and obstruct and undermine cross-Straits exchanges, cooperation and integrated development. They have steadily built up their military forces with the intention of pursuing “independence” and preventing reunification by force. They join with external forces in trying to sow the seeds of “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan”.

All these facts show that it is the US and “Taiwan independence” separatist forces that are changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, violating the one-China principle and undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

The Taiwan question concerns China's core interests and the Chinese people's national sentiments, and there is no room for compromise or concession whatsoever for the Chinese side. We will continue to stand with the international community to resolutely uphold the one-China principle, defend China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, deter and push back any attempt to contain China by using the Taiwan question, shatter the Taiwan authorities’ wishful thinking of seeking “Taiwan independence” through soliciting US support, and truly safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region.