On May 31, Consul General Zhao Jian takes an online interview with WTTW Chicago’s “Chicago Tonight” program,  expounding China’s solemn position on Taiwan question. 

Consul General Zhao Jian pointed out that the visit to Taiwan by members of the US Congress seriously violates the One-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques. China deplores and firmly rejects this. 

Consul General Zhao stressed that Taiwan has been an inalienable part of the Chinese territory since ancient times. This fact has never changed, and will never change. Taiwan was once occupied by force by Japanese aggressors over 100 years ago. Approaching the end of World War II, the Cairo Declaration issued by China, the United States and the United Kingdom stated clearly that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Taiwan and Penghu Islands shall be restored to China. In 1945, the Potsdam Proclamation reiterated that the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out. At the end of World War II, Taiwan returned to the embrace of the motherland de facto and de jure.

As a legacy of the Chinese civil war and due to the interference by the external forces, the two sides across the Taiwan Strait have been temporarily separated and mired in a situation of antagonism. In 1949, the KMT government retreated to Taiwan and the People's Republic of China succeeded the Republic of China. The facts are crystal clear that China’s territory and national sovereignty have never been divided and the fact that the Chinese mainland and Taiwan belong to one and same China has never changed. This is the biggest fact and the most fundamental status quo of the Taiwan question and cross-Straits relations. 

In the three China-US joint communiques, the US government has committed itself to the One-China policy. In the Shanghai Communique issued in 1972, the US acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The US Government does not challenge that position. In the 1978 Joint Communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations, the US acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is a part of China; and recognizes the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China. These are the facts defining the one-China policy and fundamental principles regulating China-US relations. The US side, in violation of the one-China policy, upgraded its official engagements with the Taiwan authorities and sent wrong messages to them. China firmly opposes to these developments.

The one-China Principle is the bedrock for the across-strait peace and stability. The Chinese people will do their utmost to promote the peaceful development of the cross-strait relations and pursue peaceful reunification of the motherland. All the Chinese people treasure so greatly the unity and territorial integrity of their motherland. We will never allow Taiwan to be split from the motherland by any force and by any means.