U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.Figure: Recap of Blinken’s Twitter
“Oppose Taiwan independence” has always been China’s position, and the United States has always expressed “no support for Taiwan independence” in this regard. However, the CCP official Xinhua News Agency reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the 21st: ” The U.S. opposes Taiwan independence”; it is different from the U.S. “not supporting Taiwan independence” for a long time, and it is also inconsistent with the U.S. “One China” policy. To this, the State Department responded with an official statement the night before: “It does not comment on private diplomatic dialogues.”
The official statement by the US State Department and the Chinese Foreign Ministry only mentioned that the US and Chinese foreign ministers discussed the North Korea and Ukraine issues; Xinhua News Agency later released a report on the relationship between the two people, stating: “Blinken said, as President Biden has said many times, the US side Do not seek to start a new Cold War, do not seek to change the Chinese system, oppose ‘Taiwan independence’, and have no intention of confronting China.” If Blinken expresses his stance of “opposing Taiwan independence” to Wang Yi, it will be the first time the Biden administration has echoed China’s position on this issue.
However, this is not the first time that Xinhua News Agency has reported that top US leaders are “opposed to Taiwan independence”. In September 2016, when then-US President Barack Obama met with Xi Jinping in Hangzhou, China, Xinhua News Agency also claimed that Obama said “oppose Taiwan independence” and also said that he was “opposed to Taiwan independence”. Controversy arose; the White House responded to reporters’ inquiries by not revealing the content of the private conversation at the time, and reiterated that the United States’ position has not changed for a long time.
The 1972 Shanghai Communiqué stated: “The United States recognizes that all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait believe that there is only one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The U.S. government does not dispute this position. It reaffirms its commitment to the responsibility of the Chinese people themselves. Since the signing of the Shanghai Communique between the United States and China, successive U.S. governments have set the tone of “not supporting” Taiwan independence. Occasionally, officials blurted out their opposition to Taiwan independence, and the U.S. government will immediately clarify.
U.S. President Biden emphasized following a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November last year that the U.S. does not “encourage” Taiwan independence, and encourages Taiwan to “do everything in accordance with the requirements of the Taiwan Relations Act.” The White House National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell stated in July last year: “We support a strong unofficial relationship between the United States and Taiwan, we do not support Taiwan independence, and we fully understand that it needs to be handled with care.”
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was the first U.S. head of state to publicly declare that “the U.S. does not support Taiwan independence.” In 1998, the then President of the Republic of China Lee Teng-hui proposed the “two-state theory”. “Three Nos”, including not supporting Taiwan’s independence, not supporting one China, one Taiwan, and not supporting Taiwan’s participation in international organizations composed of sovereign states.
