'There is Only One China': Beijing Rips Into US for Violating Status Quo in Taiwan Strait

BEIJING (Sputnik) - The United States, not China, violated the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, since the island is guided by unilaterally adopted laws that violate bilateral agreements between Beijing and Washington, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday.

"Taiwan has never been a separate country, there is only one China in the world, and both banks of the Taiwan Strait belong to one state, this is the status quo in Taiwan from ancient times to today," Wang said at a press conference on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) events in Phnom Penh. "But that status quo has really been broken. But it was not China that violated it, but the separatist forces of Taiwan and the US."

The minister commented on statements that Beijing's sharp reaction to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan is unjustified, since the precedent for a senior US lawmaker to visit Taiwan was in 1997, when former House Speaker Newt Gingrich came to the island.

Wang added that the US in 2000 prioritized the Taiwan Relations Act over the Six Assurances, signed in 1982. The Six Assurances provided that the US did not agree to determine the exact date for stopping the sale of weapons to the island, and would act as an intermediary between Taipei and Beijing, while not putting pressure on Taiwan to begin negotiations with China. The guarantees also provided that Washington would not revise the US Taiwan Relations Act, and would not take any position on sovereignty over Taiwan.

According to the minister, Gingrich's visit to Taiwan was a serious mistake, and the US cannot use past mistakes as a pretext and rationale for repeating them today.

On Tuesday, Pelosi visited Taipei while on an Asia tour despite warnings from China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and opposes any direct official foreign contacts with the island. She is the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. The visit became a new point of tension in US-China relations in the Taiwan Strait. Washington does not officially recognize Taiwan's independence.

The visit triggered a new round of tension in the Taiwan Strait. In addition to the launch of military exercises this week, Beijing has imposed sanctions against two Taiwanese foundations for separatist activities, suspended the export of natural sand to the island and the import of citrus fruits, as well as some types of fish products from Taiwan. The Chinese foreign ministry said that Washington and Taipei are yet to face all the negative consequences of the visit, which Beijing has opposed for several months.