China urges US to stop official exchanges with Taiwan: FM spokesperson

BEIJING - China firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between the United States and China's Taiwan region, and urged the United States to stop official exchanges with Taiwan and refrain from sending any wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, a foreign ministry spokesperson said here Wednesday.

It was reported that US President Donald Trump had signed into law an act which called on the Department of State to regularly review interactions between the United States and Taiwan, and look for ways to deepen interactions with Taiwan.

In response, spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular press briefing that China firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between the United States and China's Taiwan region, and this position is consistent and clear. The Taiwan question is at the core of China's core interests, and is the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations.

He said the one-China principle is the political foundation of China-US relations, and the US government made a clear commitment in the joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations that "the United States of America recognizes the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China. Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan."

China urged the US side to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, handle the Taiwan question with extreme caution, stop official exchanges with Taiwan, and stop sending any wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, Lin said.