The Chinese Foreign Ministry urged the United States to sever all official contacts with Taiwan which Beijing considers its inalienable part. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, “The US should stop official exchanges with Taiwan,” reported Sputnik agency. This comes after a delegation of six US congressmen headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez made an unofficial visit to Taiwan on Thursday for talks with the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and National Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng.
The sides are expected to exchange views on US-Taiwan cooperation, the threat of China, and regional security, Taiwanese news agency CNA reported. “China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region. Members of the US Congress should act in consistence with the US government’s one-China policy,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a briefing. Zhao said that the US “should abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communique” and stop any form of “official exchanges with Taiwan and avoid going further down this dangerous path.” He also reaffirmed Beijing’s commitment to safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said the visit showed bipartisan support for Taiwan in the U.S. Congress. This comes a few days after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cancelled a planned visit to Taiwan, after contracting COVID-19. Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China for over seven decades. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan, which is a territory with its own democratically-elected government, maintains that it is an autonomous country.