A top U.S. official said the United States expects differences across the Taiwan Strait to be resolved peacefully and opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo as Taiwan prepares to celebrate the founding of the Republic of China on Thursday.
The People's Republic of China, or PRC, celebrates its national day on October 1, marking the founding of the country in 1949. Taiwan chooses October 10, known as Double Ten Day, to celebrate the founding of the ROC in 1912, just months after an uprising that began on October 10, 1911.
The PRC typically closely monitors speeches from Taiwan’s leaders during Double Ten Day celebrations. Since Taiwan’s democratically elected President Lai Ching-te took office in May, Beijing has increased military pressure on Taiwan, deeming Lai a “separatist.”
On Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said that the U.S.'s “fundamental interest is in the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” reiterating that Washington’s longstanding One China policy remains unchanged, “guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances.”
“We oppose unilateral changes to the status quo by either side. We do not support Taiwan independence, and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved peacefully,” Kritenbrink told VOA during a briefing.
Speaking at an event Saturday, Lai noted that the PRC celebrated its 75th anniversary on October 1, and in a few days, it would be the ROC’s 113th birthday.
“In terms of age, it is absolutely impossible for the People’s Republic of China to be considered the motherland of the people of the Republic of China. On the contrary, the ROC may be the motherland of the people of the PRC who are over 75 years old,” Lai told an audience in Taipei.
PRC officials have remained largely muted on Lai’s remarks, but some analysts say that could be because Beijing is preparing to launch another round of military exercises after Lai delivers his Double Ten Day speech.
U.S. officials have referred inquiries to “President Lai’s office for any commentary on his specific comments.”
European visit
Meanwhile, former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen will visit the Czech Republic this month, a visit seen as sensitive since Beijing has repeatedly denounced the democratic leader as a "separatist."
In Beijing on Tuesday, a spokesperson from the PRC’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was asked to comment on Tsai’s planned visit to Prague.
“We firmly oppose anyone who seeks “Taiwan independence” visiting countries with diplomatic ties with China under any pretext. We urge the Czech Republic and relevant countries to earnestly abide by the One China principle and respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters Tuesday.
Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, when Mao Zedong's communists took power in Beijing after defeating Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang nationalists in a civil war, prompting the nationalists' relocation to the island.
The U.S. does not maintain an official relationship with Taiwan but provides defense equipment to the self-ruled democracy under the Taiwan Relations Act.
Treaty of Aigun
In a TV interview in September, Lai remarked that if China's claims over Taiwan are genuinely rooted in concerns about territorial integrity, it should also seek to reclaim the land it ceded to Russia in the 19th century.
He referenced the 1858 Treaty of Aigun, through which China, under the Qing dynasty, gave up a vast area of land — now part of Russia’s Far East — to the Russian Empire, establishing much of the modern border along the Amur River.
The Treaty of Aigun, along with the 1860 Convention of Peking, saw China relinquish 600,000 square kilometers — an area almost the size of Ukraine — to the Russian Empire, enabling Russia to establish a naval base at Vladivostok. Many Chinese people still brood over this period of history, harboring lingering resentment over the fact that the land once belonged to China before being annexed by Russia.
In 2023, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources mandated that new maps use Chinese names for Vladivostok — Haishenwai — as well as several other cities in the region.
