Ministry: Taiwan part of China is historical, legal fact

Photo taken on July 21, 2019 from Xiangshan Mountain shows the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, Southeast China's Taiwan. (Photo/Xinhua)

Taiwan being a part of China is a historical and legal fact that cannot be changed and is a status quo that may not be challenged, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday.

Any practice that resists China's reunification will be thwarted, he said.

Wang made the remarks after United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a recent interview that Washington has commitments under the so-called Taiwan Relations Act to ensure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself, and the US and its allies would take action against unilateral moves to use force to alter the status quo on Taiwan.

Blinken's remarks came after a delegation of US lawmakers paid a visit to the island by US military aircraft on Tuesday night.

Such remarks disregarded facts and went against international jurisprudence, Wang said at a daily news conference.

The "Taiwan Relations Act" unilaterally formulated by the US violates the commitments Washington has made in the three China-US joint communiques, and puts domestic laws above international obligations, which is illegal and invalid, Wang said.

"China will never allow the US to infringe on China's sovereignty or interfere in its internal affairs under any pretext," he said, urging Washington to tread cautiously and stop sending any wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" forces.

Wang reiterated that there is only one China in the world and the one-China principle is a universally recognized norm governing international relations and a consensus widely accepted by the international community.

The root cause of the current tension across the Taiwan Straits is that the Taiwan authorities and a handful of "Taiwan independence" separatist forces try to deny and challenge the one-China principle and expand the space for "Taiwan independence" activities, Wang said.

The Chinese government and the international community oppose the moves, Wang said, adding that any attempts to challenge the one-China principle and to support "Taiwan independence" separatist activities will end in failure.

Also on Thursday, Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, warned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party-led authorities that any provocative move by colluding with external forces for "independence" will not succeed.