China has expressed its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition after US President Donald Trump last week signed the "Taiwan Travel Act" that encourages visits and exchanges between the US and China's Taiwan at all levels.
The US has not only severely violated the one-China principle and the three joint communiques between China and the US, but also interfered in China's domestic affairs.
By playing "Taiwan card" at this crucial moment of the China-US ties, the US intends to reap some unfair gains, but it will swallow the bitter fruit ultimately.
The Taiwan issue bears on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and touches China's core interests. Chinese government has reiterated on plenty of occasions its firm resolution and determination in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity are indestructible.
China has also urged the US to avoid disturbing and damaging to overall bilateral ties by handling Taiwan-related issues properly and cautiously .It requires the US to stop pursuing any official ties with Taiwan or improving its current relations with Taiwan in any substantive way, and to never send wrong signals to the "pro-independence" separatist forces in Taiwan.
However, the US stubbornly continues to challenge the bottom line of the one-China principle with the "Taiwan Travel Act". The ill-conceived bill, which seriously disturbs China-US relations as well as the situation across the Taiwan Strait, will never be accepted by the Chinese people.
The one-China principle, which has been recognized by the world, serves as the cornerstone to ensure the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
The US has many times assured that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait serves its long-lasting interests, but continues to make slap-in-face by actions.
The US House of Representatives and the Senate have submitted dozens of Taiwan-related bills since 2016. Last July, the US State Department approved an arms sale to Taiwan, the first such deal with Taiwan since Trump took office.
Last December, Trump signed the National Defence Authorisation Act for the 2018 fiscal year into law, some clauses of which also encourage stronger military exchange between the US and Taiwan.
As an attempt to lift the ban on mutual visit exchanges between officials of the US and China's Taiwan, the bill not only undermines China's sovereignty, national integrity and security interests, but also harms the political foundation of China-US relations.
But facts will finally prove that the US will take equal or even worse consequences brought by any incorrect actions to damage the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Some politicians in the US, a place now penetrated by conservatism, isolationism and populism, are again trying to paint China as a threat. Some who hold twisted psychology or hegemonic mentality towards China's prosperity still dreamed to "contain" China.
Such Cold War mentality does not work as it is unacceptable in the 21st century. Any Americans with political wisdom will draw the same conclusion.
Evan Medeiros, a former senior director for Asian Affairs at the White House's National Security Council, and Ryan Hass, a former security advisor under the Obama administration, strongly recommended the Trump administration "steer clear of efforts to use Taiwan as a tool to put stress on China" in a signed article published previously.
One-China policy is uncompromisable. China has unshakable willpower to guard its bottom line on Taiwan issue, and unswerving determination to achieve the great cause of its peaceful reunification.
The Chinese mainland recently released a total of 31 new measures on economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan, receiving applause from Taiwan businesses and public.
It is an inevitable historical trend that China will march towards reunification, and any stupid attempt to resist it is doomed to be a waste of effort.
Attaching importance to its friendly cooperation with the US, China is always ready to develop a healthy and stable relationship with the US on a basis of mutual respect and win-win cooperation.
What the US should do is to respect China's sovereignty rather than flying a kite on China's bottom line, and to seek to maximise interests of both sides by following previous consensus rather than turning back the wheel of history in an unwise way.
A sound and healthy relationship between China and US is conducive not only to the interests of the two countries, but also to that of Asia-Pacific region and the whole world.
Against such a backdrop, the US should get a clear understanding of the current situation, handle Taiwan-related issues properly and cautiously, maintain the overall China-US ties and the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait with concrete actions, and shoulder its responsibility as a major country.
Courtesy: People's Daily of China.
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