HONG KONG — China accused the United States on Monday of a “serious regression” in its position on Taiwan, after the State Department updated the Taiwan section of its website to remove a reference to the independence of the Beijing-claimed island.
The State Department fact sheet on U.S.-Taiwan relations continues to state Washington’s opposition to any unilateral changes to the status quo from either China or Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy that rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims. But the phrase “we do not support Taiwan independence” appears to have been removed on Thursday in what the State Department says was a routine update.
The change was cheered by Taiwan, while China said it “sends a wrong signal to the Taiwan independence forces” and urged the U.S. to “immediately correct this mistake.”
The U.S. should “stop using Taiwan to control China” and “stop condoning and supporting Taiwan independence,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular briefing in Beijing on Monday. “This will help avoid further serious damage to China-U.S. relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
The same phrase about not supporting Taiwan independence was removed from the State Department fact sheet in 2022 during the Biden administration before being restored a few weeks later.
The United States, like most countries, does not have official relations with Taiwan but is its most important international backer, and is required by law to provide the island of 23 million people with defensive weapons.
Beijing, which has not ruled out the use of force to assert its sovereignty claims, is extremely sensitive to any sign of international recognition of Taiwan, which it describes as its “core of core interests.”
Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China, says it is already an independent country. Its government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communist forces of Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China.
The U.S. has recognized the PRC as the sole legal government of China since establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1979, acknowledging Beijing’s assertion that Taiwan is part of China but taking no official stance of its own on the sovereignty of Taiwan.
The State Department said the U.S. position on Taiwan independence had not changed and that the U.S. remained committed to its “one China” policy.
“The United States is committed to preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email on Sunday.
“We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We support cross-Strait dialogue, and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to people on both sides of the Strait.”
The State Department website has also been changed to add a reference to Taiwan’s cooperation with a Pentagon technology and semiconductor development project and to say the U.S. will continue to support Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, “including membership where applicable.”
China has consistently opposed Taiwan’s membership in international bodies such as the World Health Organization.
The website changes were praised by Taiwan, whose foreign minister, Lin Chia-lung, said in a statement on Sunday that his ministry welcomed “the support and positive stance on U.S.-Taiwan relations” that they demonstrated.
Though President Donald Trump has unnerved Taiwan with recent comments demanding the island pay more for its defense and accusing it of stealing U.S. semiconductor business, his administration has also made strong statements of support for Taipei.
Last week, two U.S. Navy ships sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait for the first time since Trump’s inauguration last month. A Canadian warship also sailed through the strait on Sunday, drawing condemnation from Beijing.
In recent years Taiwan has come under increasing military and other pressure from China, which sends warplanes and vessels toward the island almost daily.
On Monday, the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 41 Chinese military aircraft, nine Chinese naval vessels and one “official ship” operating around Taiwan in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. local time (5 p.m. Sunday ET), with 28 of the planes crossing the median line that had previously served as an unofficial buffer in the Taiwan Strait.
