Beijing condemns changes to State Department website on Taiwanese sovereignty
The "fact sheet" for Taiwan no longer stipulates that the U.S. does not support its independence, which caused a furor in mainland China.
Demonstration in support of American-Taiwanese solidarity.
China has raised a complaint that has made its way to the Marco Rubio-led State Department over what it sees as a setback regarding its ambitions to rule over the island of Taiwan. It has to do with some details currently on the State Department's website, revamped since the new administration took office.
Beijing considered these changes a "regression" in terms of Washington's stance on Taiwan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that the United States should "stop using Taiwan to control China" and "stop approving and supporting Taiwan's independence."
The point of contention is in the "fact sheets" on each country, region or territory published by the State Department on its website. There, according to Beijing, the mention of the process that separated Taiwan from mainland China after the communist victory last century has been deleted.
The text on the website adds that the U.S. government does not support any kind of change, whether in China's leadership or not, that would alter the current situation. Likewise, while before the website assured that the government did not support Taiwanese independence, now that detail no longer appears in the text.
The same sentence about not supporting Taiwan independence was removed from the State Department's fact sheet in 2022, during the Biden administration, before being reinstated a few weeks later.
At present, Taiwan has very limited international recognition, although it maintains relations with most Western democracies. Other parts of the world choose not to engage with the government in Taipei due to the external actions of China, which considers itself the sole sovereign power ruling the island.
Taiwan is governed by an independent democracy in which the main party is increasingly committed to maintaining its own agenda, independent of Beijing. On the other side of the strait, Beijing increasingly threatens the autonomy of the island and does not exclude the use of force to take Taiwan. The Chinese armed military routinely carries out maritime military drills for an assault on the island.
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