Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that the one-China principle is what underpins stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Wang made the remarks when asked about the root cause of the current tensions across the Taiwan Strait and how to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as he made a policy speech on adhering to open regionalism with Q&A at the ASEAN Secretariat.
Wang said history and practice have repeatedly proved that when the one-China principle is fully recognized and thoroughly followed, the Taiwan Strait would remain calm and the two sides enjoy peaceful development. However, when the one-China principle is arbitrarily challenged or even sabotaged, there would be dark clouds or even ferocious storms across the Taiwan Strait.
Wang said the current tensions across the Taiwan Strait are rooted in the fact that Taiwan"s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities have abandoned the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, undermining the important foundation for the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, and going further down the wrong path of "seeking independence with foreign support."
He also pointed out that the United States is constantly distorting and hollowing out the one-China policy, trying to use the "Taiwan card" to disrupt and hinder China"s development process.
Wang noted that people are now talking about maintaining the "status quo," and what is the "status quo" of the Taiwan question? He said the facts are evident and clear: the two sides across the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China, and Taiwan is a part of China"s territory. Though there has been political antagonism between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, China"s sovereignty and territorial integrity have never been severed.
This is the true status quo of the Taiwan Strait, which has not changed since ancient times and will not change, Wang said, adding that it is the DPP authorities and the external forces which attempt to "use the Taiwan question to contain China" that have challenged and undermined the status quo.
Stressing that the Taiwan question is the core of China"s core interests, Wang noted that safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity is the bounden responsibility of every Chinese descendant, and no one, force or country should dream of separating Taiwan from China.
Pointing out that the one-China principle is also the basic principle for China to establish diplomatic ties with other countries, and constitutes a part of the post-World War II international order, Wang said it is hoped and believed that all countries would fully recognize the serious harmfulness of "Taiwan independence" and secession, and work with China to uphold the one-China principle.
A more clear-cut attitude in upholding the one-China principle and more forceful measures to contain separatist forces lead to more possibilities for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and more guarantees for regional peace and prosperity, Wang said.
The United States has stressed many times recently that it would safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every country, to which, Wang said, China attaches great importance as it conforms to the basic norms governing international relations and the purposes of the UN Charter. But taking into account the track record of the U.S. side, it must be stressed that the United States should not engage in double standards, backtracking and flip-flopping on its position, Wang noted.
China"s sovereignty and territorial integrity on the Taiwan question should also be respected and safeguarded, which is also a test of the international credibility of the United States as a major country, he said.
