China firmly opposes US-Taiwan official interactions, urges US to stop official interactions with Taiwan

China said that they are ready to work with the US to build a relationship on coordination, cooperation and stability in the spirit of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, but will never submit to "its bullying and power politics".

File Photo (Twitter/@MFA_China)

Beijing: The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday (August 10, 2020) 'firmly opposed' the United States-Taiwan official interactions and urged Washington to stop official interactions with Taiwan.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, "China consistently and firmly opposes any official interactions between the US and Taiwan and has made stern representations with the US side over this issue."

Zhao added, "I'd like to reiterate that for the China-US relationship, the Taiwan question is one of the utmost importance with the highest level of sensitivity, and the one-China principle is its political foundation. What the US has done contravened its own promises on the question."

He said, "We urge the US to adhere to the one-China principle and the three joint communique, stop having official interactions of any kind with Taiwan, make no attempts to change the nature of its relationship with Taiwan, and handle Taiwan-related issues prudently and properly to avoid severe damage to China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."

China firmly opposes any US-Taiwan official interactions. We urge the #US to adhere to the one-China principle&the #threejointcommuniques, stop official interactions with Taiwan, make no attempts to change the nature of the relations, and handle related issues prudently&properly. pic.twitter.com/ZJysgQYY6z — Spokesperson(@MFA_China) August 10, 2020

Zhao said that they stand ready to work with the United States to build a relationship on coordination, cooperation and stability in the spirit of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, but will never submit to "its bullying and power politics". 

"We will firmly safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, uphold our legitimate development rights and interests, and defend our major country status and national dignity that the Chinese people have won through unremitting efforts," stated Zhao.

He also expressed that some extremist forces in the United States continue to stoke trouble, trying to push China-US relations into the so-called "New Cold War".

"We believe that China and the United States need to have candid and effective dialogues, take concrete actions to manage differences and focus on and advance practical cooperation in various fields. This serves the common interests of the two peoples and meets the common expectations of the international community," said Zhao.

Recounting the August 7 event when the US announced sanctions on 11 officials of Chinese Government and the Hong Kong SAR under the pretext of undermining Hong Kong's autonomy, Zhao commented, "Such behavior openly meddles with Hong Kong affairs, blatantly interferes in China's internal affairs, and gravely violates international law and basic norms of international relations. China firmly rejects and condemns it."

In response to US' sanctions, China also decided on Monday to impose sanctions on US individuals with "egregious behaviors on Hong Kong-related issues".

"Hong Kong is part of China and its affairs are entirely China's internal affairs which allow no foreign interference. We urge the US to grasp the situation, correct its mistake, and immediately stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs and China's internal affairs," said Zhao.

Earlier on August 7, the director of the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center said that Russia, China and Iran are trying to interfere in the 2020 US election adding that the US believes that "China does not want Trump to win reelection" because it views him as "unpredictable". 

Zhao in reply to this said that the general election of the United States is its internal affairs and "China has never interfered in it" and has "no interest to do that in the future". 

"At the same time, we have repeatedly said that those in the US should immediately stop the trick of dragging China into their domestic politics," stated Zhao.

China has no interest in or history of interfering in #USelections. Some in the US should stop dragging China into their political games. pic.twitter.com/AFYBcw53Kt — Spokesperson (@MFA_China) August 10, 2020

The US-China relations have soured in the past few months over several issues including Hong Kong and the Chinese government's handling of the coronavirus.