China slams US for changing Taiwan wording on State Department website

China's Foreign Ministry slammed the United States Tuesday for changing the wording on the State Department website about Taiwan, highlighting that "political manipulation" will not succeed in changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

The State Department website's section on Taiwan has removed wording both on not supporting Taiwan's independence and acknowledging Beijing's position that Taiwan is part of China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing that there is only one China, Taiwan belongs to China, and that the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole country.

The United States, in changing its fact sheet on Taiwan-U.S ties, is "playing the trick of hollowing out" the one-China principle, he added.

Such acts of "political manipulation" in an attempt to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait will not succeed, Zhao said.

The wording change appears to have happened on May 5, the date at the top of the fact sheet, but it was only widely noticed in Chinese and Taiwanese media on Tuesday.

The State Department also added wording on the Six Assurances, referring to six Reagan-era security assurances given to Taiwan, which the U.S. declassified in 2020.

Among the assurances made in 1982, but previously not formally made public, are statements that the U.S. has not set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan, nor agreed to prior consultation with Beijing on such sales, or to revise the Taiwan Relations Act that underpins U.S. policy toward the island.

China says Taiwan is the most sensitive and important issue in its relations with the U.S. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only the island's 23 million people can decide their future.