Liu Xianfa*
The Taiwan question is the most important and sensitive issue in China-US relations. The core of the Taiwan question is “one China”. There is but one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China. The government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. This is the core concept of the one-China principle and has become a consensus of the international community and basic norm governing international relations. A total of 181 countries, the US included, have established diplomatic relations with China on the basis of recognizing the one-China principle.
But the US government, while claiming that its one-China policy has not changed, and that it does not support “Taiwan independence”， has become increasingly rash and mischievous in playing the “Taiwan card” in its effort to contain China. It is the US who has been constantly reneging on its own commitments, bilateral consensus and its original position. Such moves are aimed at historical backpedaling, obstructing China’s peaceful reunification by using the Taiwan question, undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and building Taiwan into “an unsinkable aircraft carrier” to contain China with the Taiwan question. In recent years, the US has doubled down on its efforts to mislead the public in order to hollow out the one-China principle. For example, the US is using more descriptions to modify its one-China policy, including its unilaterally-concocted Taiwan Relations Act and Six Assurances which have never been recognized and are firmly opposed y China rom he ery eginning. In its latest move, the US launched a so-called “initiative on 21st-century trade” with Taiwan, which undoubtedly bears sovereign connotations and an official nature, running counter to the one-China principle. It will certainly embolden the separatists on the island and disrupt peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits.
The China-US relationship, as that between two states, an only be guided by mutual political consensus, rather than being established on policy unilaterally formulated by the US side.
In history, the Taiwan question was once the biggest obstacle in the normalization of China-US relations. China decided to establish diplomatic ties with the US only when three preconditions had een met, namely, the US severed “diplomatic relations” and abrogated the “mutual defense treaty” with the Taiwan authorities and withdrew US military forces from Taiwan.
The US side explicitly declared in the Shanghai Communiqué released in 1972 that “the United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States Government does not challenge that position.”In the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China released in 1978, the US “recognizes the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China” and “acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China”. n the August 17 Communiqué released in 1982, the US explicitly stated, “In the Joint communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations on January 1, 1979, issued by the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the United States of America, the United States of America recognized the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China, and it acknowledged the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.” It also “reiterates that it has no intention of infringing on Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity, or interfering in China’s internal affairs, or pursuing a policy of ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan’.”These commitments are historical facts that cannot be wiped off or denied.
Facts cannot be denied. History shall not be falsified. Truth must not be distorted. Be it the one-China principle or the one-China policy, their essence is both about “one China”. This is a political consensus reached between China and the US. Without this consensus, China and the US couldn’t have engaged with each other and established diplomatic ties and the bilateral relationship couldn’t have achieved development. The US needs to abide by the one-China principle, the provisions in the three China-US joint communiqués, and its political commitment to China on the Taiwan question, and act on President Biden’s statement that the US does not support “Taiwan independence”. It needs to stop using Taiwan-related issues to engage in political manipulation or to contain China, and avoid causing further evere damage to China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
The Taiwan question is purely China’s internal affair and realizing China’s complete reunification is the shared aspiration of all the Chinese people. China is firmly resolved in defending its sovereignty and security interests. There is zero room for compromise and not an inch to give in on the Taiwan question. I hope all the foreign friends in the Macao SAR can view the aiwan question bjectively and correctly, and respect the Chinese people’s aspiration for peace and national reunification.
*Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Macau Special Administrative Region
