China Gets Straight to the Heart of the Problem

On the evening of June 19, Yang Tao, the director-general of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pointed out in a briefing to Chinese and foreign media on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China, that America’s aim to peacefully resolve the Taiwan question, as well as the associated One-China policy, by addressing the core elements of that policy, was not a reaffirmation of, and insistence on, U.S. political commitment to China, but instead tampering.

On June 21, as the outside world watched closely, the information mentioned above was released on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Taiwan question has always been the most important issue in China-U.S. relations. China’s reprimand of the U.S. One-China policy as tampering with political commitments cuts straight to the heart of the problem.

How did the United States tamper with the One-China policy commitment? As Yang points out, America’s stance on the One-China policy was clear originally, with only the China-U.S. Three Joint Communiqués acting as set agreements. However, more attributes were added on later, with the Taiwan Relations Act added first, then the Six Assurances. These additions were all concocted solely by the U.S., not as a joint consensus between the U.S. and China. China has firmly opposed and refused to recognize them from the very beginning.

On June 19, at a press conference held before the end of his visit to China, Blinken mentioned America’s Taiwan Relations Act, the Six Assurances and the One-China policy of the Three Joint Communiqués, once again asserting that the U.S. remains committed to its obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act, which includes ensuring that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself, and so on. Blinken again mentioned the Taiwan Relations Act and Six Guarantees in Beijing, things which China will never accept.

The objective of America’s tampering with the One-China policy is to keep the two sides of the strait divided. The Six Guarantees and the Taiwan Relations Act, even the various Taiwan-related bills passed by the United States later, are all attempts to expand and strengthen the intensity of U.S. intervention in the Taiwan issue. China’s firm opposition and retaliation is only natural.

This time China went straight to the heart of the problem, giving the U.S. a clearer understanding of China’s bottom line and persistence on the issue of Taiwan. The Taiwan issue is China’s internal affair. How the Taiwan question should be solved is the business of the people of China alone and should not involve any outside interference. On issues of core interest, China has no room for compromise.