Despite China's repeated opposition, Washington is bent on starting formal trade talks with China's Taiwan region, sending a wrong and dangerous signal to the "Taiwan independence" forces.

 

The so-called trade negotiations are simply an excuse. Behind the malicious move lies Washington's political intrigue of challenging the one-China principle and containing China by exploiting the Taiwan question, which is the most important and most sensitive issue at the very heart of China-U.S. relations.

 

In doing so, Washington is backtracking on the political promise it has made to uphold the one-China principle, and trampling on the three China-U.S. joint communiques that constitute the political foundation of China-U.S. ties.

 

While politicians in Washington have been talking big about erecting "guardrails" for China-U.S. relations, they are actually doing quite the opposite as some of them are getting increasingly unscrupulous in challenging China's bottom line and making waves across the Taiwan Straits.

 

The fact is that the three China-U.S. joint communiques are the most reliable "guardrails" for China-U.S. relations. These documents clearly stipulate that the United States recognizes the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, and it acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.

 

And on this basis, the United States met the three preconditions put forward by China, namely severing so-called "diplomatic relations" and abrogating the "mutual defense treaty" with the Taiwan authorities and withdrawing U.S. military forces from Taiwan.

 

This made it possible for China and the United States, two countries with different social systems and ideologies and at different development stages, to have dialogue and cooperation, and achieve important outcomes that have benefited both sides and the whole world.

 

Facts have shown that when the one-China principle is honored, China-U.S. relations can grow smoothly and cross-Straits peace can be effectively maintained. When the one-China principle is undermined, China-U.S. relations would suffer turbulence and regression, and the cross-Straits situation could face severe challenges.

 

Therefore, only by earnestly fulfilling the commitments made in the joint communiques, sticking to the right direction and removing roadblocks in a timely manner, will China-U.S. relations not derail or run out of control.

 

The one-China principle has already become a prevailing international consensus and widely accepted basic norm in international relations. Since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, more than 170 countries and many international organizations have reiterated their adherence to the one-China principle.

 

Moreover, both UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and President of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Abdulla Shahid stressed recently that the United Nations will abide by the Resolution 2758, in which the one-China principle is clearly affirmed.

 

By challenging the one-China principle, the United States is destroying the real "guardrails" for bilateral ties with China. That is also tantamount to challenging the international community.

 

Over the years, Washington unilaterally adopted the so-called "Taiwan Relations Act" and put it ahead of the three China-U.S. joint communiques in its policy statement. It has openly inserted the secretly formulated "Six Assurances" into its characterization of the one-China policy. It has also been increasing arms sales to Taiwan and relaxing restrictions on exchanges with the island.

 

In doing all these and with its talks about "guardrails," Washington actually means that "I can do whatever I want, and you should not make any counter moves." This is a naked demonstration of its hegemonic mindset and bandit logic.

 

The United States is trying to make Taiwan a bridgehead against China, and has repeatedly tested China's red line and challenged China's core interests with an essential aim to contain China's peaceful development, Hassan Aslam Shad, a Pakistani international lawfare specialist, said recently.

 

Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. secretary of state, also said that "the United States should not by subterfuge or by a gradual process develop something of a 'two-China' solution."

 

The one-China principle is not only of great concern to the U.S. credibility for honoring its own promises, but to the China-U.S. relationship and the peace and stability of the whole world. Washington must stop going further down the wrong path of distorting, manipulating, fudging and hollowing out the one-China principle.