First of all, what is the status quo of the Taiwan Strait?

There is only one China in the world, the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and Taiwan is a part of China. This is the status quo of the Taiwan Strait. The one-China principle clearly defines the status quo across the Taiwan Strait. To violate and challenge this principle is to change the status quo.

Who are changing the status quo of the Taiwan Strait?

The US clearly pledged in the Sino-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. On 2 August, Nancy Pelosi travelled to Taiwan on a US military aircraft. While she was there, she repeatedly mentioned herself being there on behalf of the US and described the trip as an official visit. The DPP authorities touted the visit as a major breakthrough in Taiwan-US relations.

The US conducts more than one hundred military drills in waters around China on an annual basis, and yet it accused China of overreacting.

The US pledged in the August 17 Communiqué released in 1982 that “it intends to gradually 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 conducted by the current US administration.

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”.

In recent years, the US’s moves to fudge, hollow out and distort its one-China commitment have become even more blatant. It 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.

The US has gone back on its commitments in the three Sino-US joint communiqués and going further down the path of fudging, hollowing out and distorting the one-China policy.  

Since taking office in Taiwan, instead of recognizing the 1992 Consensus, the Democratic Progressive Party has been pushing for “incremental Taiwan independence” and “de-sinicization",   steadily building up  military forces with the intention of pursuing "independence" and preventing reunification by force, and trying to create the false impression of “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan” on various occasions. The actions of the DPP authorities have resulted in tension in cross-Straits relations, endangering peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, and undermining the prospects and restricting the space for peaceful reunification. 

The above facts show that it is the US and “Taiwan independence” separatist forces that are undermining the one-China principle and changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

The one-China principle is what underpins peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Anyone who renounces the one-China principle would be responsible for causing fierce storms in the Taiwan Strait. 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, and shatter the Taiwan authorities’ wishful thinking of seeking “Taiwan independence” through soliciting US support.