China Firmly Opposes US-Taiwan Contacts Following Meeting Between McCarthy, Tsai Ing-Wen

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that Beijing firmly opposes and strongly condemns official contacts between the United States and Taiwan and calls on Washington to stop upgrading relations with Taiwan while reiterating China's readiness to take "strong and resolute measures" to defend the country's sovereignty.

On Wednesday, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other lawmakers in Los Angeles, California, during her transit trip to the country.

"The United States acting with Taiwan to connive at 'Taiwan independence' separatists' political activities in the United States, conduct official contact with Taiwan and upgrade the substantive relations with Taiwan, and frame it as a 'transit.' This is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiqués. It seriously infringes upon China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and sends an egregiously wrong signal to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns it," the spokesperson said in a statement on the website.

The spokesperson noted that "the Taiwan question is at the core of China's core interests and the first red line," which Washington must not cross, adding that "the pursuit of 'Taiwan independence' will lead nowhere," and that Beijing will take "strong and resolute measures to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Beijing called on Washington to stop official exchanges with Taiwan and stop upgrading relations with the island, the spokesperson added.