BEIJING, September 15. /TASS/. Chinese President Xi Jinping highly appreciates Russia’s commitment to the one-China principle, China Central Television said in a report published following Xi Jinping’s meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand on Thursday.

"Xi Jinping highly appreciates Russia’s commitment to the one-China principle," the report reads. According to the media outlet, the Chinese president "emphasized that Taiwan is part of China."

Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949 when the remaining Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after suffering a defeat in China’s civil war. Since then, Taiwan has preserved the flag and some other symbols of the Republic of China that had existed in mainland China before the Communists came to power. Beijing regards the island as one of its provinces and this position is supported by most countries, including Russia.