US plays down change in Taiwan "fact sheet"
The US State Department claims that Washington still only recognized Beijing as China's government after the latter was angered by an updated factsheet on Taiwan.
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US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price
The United States insisted Tuesday that nothing had changed in its stance toward Taiwan after Beijing was angered by an updated fact sheet that used less explicit language to reject the island's "independence".
The State Department said the United States still only recognized Beijing as China's government and was polishing off an online fact sheet that had not changed in several years.
"There's been no change in our policy. All we have done is update a fact sheet, and that's something that we routinely do with our relationships around the world," State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.
"We call upon the PRC (People's Republic of China) to behave responsibly and to not manufacture pretenses to increase pressure on Taiwan," he added.
"Trick" to obscure One China principle
The updated fact sheet, which appeared on the State Department's website last week, read that the United States "has a longstanding One China policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three US-China Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances."
It was referring to key promises made in the era when the United States switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing, which considers the island a province awaiting reunification.
The previous fact sheet explicitly spelled out promises from the 1979 joint communique, saying that the United States acknowledges Beijing's position that Taiwan is part of China and stating that the United States "does not support Taiwan's independence."
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian pointed out that President Joe Biden needed to take "real actions" to show he opposes Taiwan's independence.
"The US' latest modification of the fact sheet is a trick to obscure and write off the One China principle," Zhao told reporters.
The spokesperson considered that "Such political manipulation of the Taiwan question and the attempt to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait will hurt the US itself."
Taiwan enjoys wide backing in the United States, which is required under domestic law to provide the island with weapons to defend itself.
