Taiwan is the most sensitive and important issue in China's relations with the US.
The United States State Department has made a major change in its “fact sheet” on Taiwan, removing reference to the island nation being a part of China and elevating its status. The new and updated text started reflecting on the State Department website from May 5.
It is available on the "US Relations With Taiwan" page under the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. The updated text calls Taiwan "a leading democracy and a technological powerhouse" and “an important US partner in semiconductor and other critical supply chains".
The State Department also added wording on the Six Assurances, referring to six Reagan-era security assurances given to Taiwan, which the United States declassified in 2020.
Among the assurances made in 1982, but previously not formally made public, are statements that the United States has not set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan, nor agreed to prior consultation with Beijing on such sales, or to revise the Taiwan Relations Act that underpins US policy towards the island, according to news agency Reuters.
What did the old fact sheet say?
The last update was released on August 31, 2018, by the administration of former President Donald Trump. It provided more historical background on US-Taiwan ties and talked about why Washington switched the diplomatic ties in favour of Beijing, according to Taiwan News.
A snapshot of the previous version of State Department's fact sheet is available on the internet's archive Wayback Machine.
In that text, the US had acknowledged that the Chinese position that “there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China".
China rebukes US for changing the wording
China on Tuesday slammed the US for changing the wording on the State Department website about Taiwan, saying "political manipulation" will not succeed in changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing that there is only one China, Taiwan belongs to China, and that the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole country.
The United States' changing of its fact sheet on Taiwan-U.S ties is "a petty act of fictionalising and hollowing out the one-China principle," he added.
China's position on Taiwan
China's government considers the democratically-ruled island to be inviolable Chinese territory. Taiwan is the most sensitive and important issue in China's relations with the United States.
Taiwan's government, however, rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only the island's 23 million people can decide their future.