Beijing Urges Washington to Realize 'Sensitivity' of Taiwan Issue

BEIJING (Sputnik) — China calls on the United States to understand the sensitivity of the Taiwan issue in the Washington-Beijing relations and stick to the "One China" policy, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Tuesday.

"As we have already said, the Taiwan issue is very important and sensitive in the US-China relations. We call on the US side to realize the sensitivity of the Taiwan issue, stick to the 'One China' position, as well as to the three communiques, solve the Taiwan issue in a proper way and have no official contacts with Taiwan," Geng said at a briefing.

Last week, US President-elect Donald Trump said that he did not exclude the possibility of a meeting with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, who will pay a working visit to the Latin American countries in January with a stop in the United States.

On December 2, 2016, Trump became the first US president or president-elect to speak with a Taiwanese leader in an official capacity since 1979. On December 11, 2016, Trump said he would not be bound by the "One China" policy regarding relations with Taiwan.

After Chinese Nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong’s Communists, the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan in 1949. Since then, Beijing has viewed the self-ruled, democratic island as a breakaway province. The United States, along with many other countries, does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation and sticks officially to the "One China" position, but has kept informal relations with the island after severing diplomatic ties with it in 1979.

The three joint communiques issued between 1972 and 1982 outline the framework for the diplomatic relations between China and the United States and reaffirm the latter's commitment to the united China.