China’s Foreign Ministry took issue Monday with a revised U.S. government fact sheet that removed a line on American opposition to independence for Taiwan.
The USA has “gravely backpedaled” on its position on Taiwan and sent the unsuitable message to “separatist forces” on the island, ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 throughout the civil war that brought the communists to power in China. The defeated Nationalists fled to Taiwan and arrange a rival government there. Taiwan has its own government and military but has never declared formal independence from China.
“We urge the U.S. to … stop emboldening and supporting Taiwan independence and avoid further damaging China-U.S. relations and the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” Guo said when asked concerning the revision at a day by day media briefing.
The Taiwan Strait is a narrow waterway that separates the island of Taiwan from China’s east coast.
The U.S. State Department removed the phrase “we don’t support Taiwan independence” from the very fact sheet last week. The document on America’s relations with the self-governing island is posted on its website.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and all over the world, enroll for breaking news alerts delivered on to you once they occur.
Taiwan’s government welcomed the move, though an announcement sent to The Associated Press on Monday didn’t mention the language specifically.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has noted that the U.S. State Department updated the ‘Current State of U.S.-Taiwan Relations’ page … with text that’s positive and friendly toward us, reflecting the close and amicable partnership between Taiwan and the US,” it said.
It’s not the primary time the State Department has removed the phrase. It did so in May 2022 but restored it a couple of weeks later after a robust protest from China.
It’s unclear why the State Department modified the language again and whether it signals any shift in policy under President Donald Trump, who returned to the White House last month.
The federal government in Taiwan is nervous that Trump won’t be as steadfast a supporter of the island as his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
The U.S. doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a rustic but is its strongest backer and largest arms supplier.
Trump said last week that Taiwan, a number one maker of semiconductors, had taken the chip business away from the U.S. and that he wants it to return back.
China, which says that Taiwan must come under its control, has stepped up military exercises across the island of 23 million people in recent times. The U.S. government fact sheet says that it expects “differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a fashion acceptable to the people on each side.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press
