BEIJING, May 27. /TASS/. The Chinese authorities have made a serious warning to the United States over the visit and official contacts of US lawmakers with the administration of the Taiwan island, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning has said.
"The American side has broken its promises not to maintain official contacts with Taiwan," she emphasized at a news briefing.
Mao stated that Washington was sending a "wrong signal" to Taiwanese separatists.
"The Chinese side is categorically opposed to this. We have already made a serious warning to the US," she added. "China will take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Mao also demanded that US lawmakers stop using Taiwan as a trump card and refrain from interfering in China's domestic politics and "conniving with separatist forces" in Taipei. She recalled that by such actions, the US was damaging Sino-US relations and undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
As Michael McCaul, the chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, said earlier at a meeting in Taipei with Taiwan's chief executive Lai Ching-te, the United States would not stop supplying defense weapons to Taiwan. According to him, no coercion and intimidation would be able to put an end to visits by US legislators to the island. He politician also argues that Beijing is not interested in taking Taiwan peacefully.
Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when remnants of the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after being defeated in the Chinese Civil War. Since then, Taipei has retained the flag and some other attributes of the former Republic of China that existed on the mainland before the Communists came to power. According to Beijing's official position, supported by most countries, including Russia, it is one of China's regions.