The first meeting between top U.S. and Chinese officials since President Biden took office concluded in Alaska on March 19. At the meeting, Chinese representatives suggested that “the Taiwan issue is a matter of Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity and involves China’s core interests, and there is no room for compromise and concession.” Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said through a press release on the 21st that “the Republic of China on Taiwan is a sovereign and independent democratic state, and only the people of Taiwan have the right to decide the future of Taiwan.”
Before the first meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials began on the 18th, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in his opening remarks that the U.S. side would discuss China’s actions that have raised deep concerns during the talks, “including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States, economic coercion of our allies ” According to another Chinese press release, Chinese representatives, for their part, suggested to the U.S. side during the meeting that “the Taiwan issue is a matter of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and involves China’s core interests, and there is no room for compromise or concession. We urge the U.S. side to abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three U.S.-China joint communiqués, stop official contacts and military ties between the U.S. and Taiwan, stop selling arms to Taiwan, refrain from helping Taiwan expand its so-called ‘international space,’ handle the Taiwan issue prudently and properly, and refrain from sending any wrong signals to the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces. Any wrong signal, do not try to break through the bottom line of the Chinese side, so as not to seriously damage Sino-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. “
According to the Trump administration’s declassification last year of the contents of two classified telegrams involving Taiwan before President Reagan issued the August 17 Joint Communique with China in 1982, one was an explanation of the contents of the August 17 Communique regarding arms sales to Taiwan, and the other was about the “Six Assurances” given to Taiwan. The Reagan Administration’s “Six Assurances” to Taiwan included that “the United States will not act as a mediator between Taipei and Beijing; the United States has not agreed to amend the Taiwan Relations Act; the United States has not changed its position on Taiwan’s sovereignty; the United States will not pressure Taiwan to negotiate with the People’s Republic of China ” and other contents.
Regarding the relevant discussions between U.S. and Chinese officials at the Alaska meeting, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release on Sunday saying, “U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan were in Alaska from 18 to 19 and met with Yang Jiechi, Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Working Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during which the two sides had heated exchanges on fundamental issues such as a rules-based international order, democratic values, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan.”
The Central News Agency quoted a press release from Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying that it “has noticed the misleading and distorted claims that Taiwan’s sovereignty belongs to China made by Chinese officials during and after the talks, which are contrary to the facts and to the will of the people of Taiwan.” Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry stressed that “the Republic of China on Taiwan is a sovereign and independent democratic state, the sovereignty of which belongs to the 23.5 million people of Taiwan, and only the people of Taiwan have the right to decide the future of Taiwan.”
The press release stated, “The People’s Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan, and Taiwan exists alone in the international community, and this is the long-standing fact and status quo across the Taiwan Strait. peace, stability and prosperity in the region.”
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