China condemned the United States on Monday for removing a reference to the status of Taiwan from the State Department website, urging Washington to “correct its mistakes”.
Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory and has refused to rule out using force to unify with the self-ruled island one day.
The United States does not diplomatically recognise Taiwan but remains its main security backer and last week removed a line from a State Department fact sheet that stated “We do not support Taiwan independence”.
Taipei hailed the move as “positive and friendly” while Washington’s de facto embassy on the island described it as “routine” — but the language used to describe US-Taiwan relations is highly sensitive and has provoked an angry response in China.
A spokesperson for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Monday that the change “sends seriously wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and will only damage peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.
“We urge the US side to… correct its mistakes and prudently handle the Taiwan issue,” spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said in a statement.
“No matter how much Taiwan and the US collude and scheme with each other, they will never be able to change the fact that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is a part of it,” she said.
Beijing has ramped up pressure on Taipei in recent years, luring away its political allies and holding vast military drills around the island.
See also: Taiwan’s Lai Ching-te says ‘confident’ of deeper cooperation with Donald Trump
The return of US President Donald Trump has roiled the delicate diplomatic balance, with Taiwanese leaders seeking to get onside with his transactional worldview.
Trump has frayed nerves by suggesting Taiwan should pay the United States for protection and by blaming the island for the woes of the American chip industry.
