BEIJING, January 11. /TASS/. This year, China will continue to resolutely protect its state sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as counteract any provocations aiming at Taiwan’s independence and any attempts at external interference on the Taiwan issue, Ma Xiaoguang, Director of the Information Bureau at the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
"In the new year, China will firmly defend state sovereignty and territorial integrity, resolutely crack down on provocations by separatist forces advocating Taiwanese independence as well as any attempt at outside interference, and steadfastly defend the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation and the personal interests of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," China’s Central Television quoted him as saying.
The official stressed that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of it. According to him, the settling of the Taiwan issue is the personal business of the Chinese people and any attempts to "break" Taiwan away from China won’t succeed. "We urge the countries concerned to strictly observe the 'one China' principle, to stop sending false signals to separatist forces advocating Taiwanese independence, and to stop playing with fire on the issue of Taiwan," the spokesman noted.
That said, he pointed out that this year, Beijing will continue to hold "extensive and in-depth consultations with reasonable representatives of various spheres of Taiwan’s society on the subject of relations between the two coasts of the Taiwan Strait and on national reunification, as well as on bolstering interaction and dialogue and together facilitate the peaceful fostering of relations on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the promotion of the process of the homeland’s peaceful reunification."
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.
The US severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 and established them with China. While recognizing the "One China" policy, Washington continues to maintain contacts with the island and supply it with weapons. Tensions in the Taiwan Strait ratcheted up following then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei on August 2-3, 2022.