News Reference Material
Date: November 15, 2022
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) issued the following response today (November 15, 2022) to the statements on cross-Strait issues made by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at a meeting between the leaders of the US and China. The MAC emphasized that these statements were incompatible with the facts: the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign state; it has never been part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) or the PRC’s internal affairs. The two sides across the Taiwan Strait are not subordinate to each other— this is an objective truth, the status quo, and a concrete fact. The "Four Commitments" are a clear summary of our firm will to defend our national sovereignty, democracy, and freedom. They are the consensus shared among the people in Taiwan; they represent Taiwan’s core interests; and they are the bottom lines that cannot be crossed, violated, or compromised.
The MAC stated that the Beijing authorities' views on cross-Strait relations are illegitimate and against the wishes and expectations of the 23 million people in Taiwan. Any military aggression aimed at coercing Taiwan into accepting the CCP’s political frameworks, forcing Taiwan to acquiesce to the CCP’s unilaterally set endgames for cross-Strait relations, or provoking cross-Strait and regional conflicts are bound to be rejected by both the people in Taiwan and the global community. We thank the US for reaffirming its pledge to support democratic Taiwan and for warning China against its growing aggressiveness and violations of the rules-based international order. This is conducive to curbing the spread of authoritarianism and preserving peace in the Indo-Pacific region.
The MAC reiterated that the government is committed to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait; this stance is in line with the interests of all parties in the region. Taiwan will continue to strengthen the "Four Resiliences" pertaining to boosting our self-defense capabilities and developing advanced technologies. We hope that the global community will continue to closely follow the cross-Strait situation, engage in more interactions, and deepen exchanges with Taiwan. The MAC also called on the other side across the Taiwan Strait to respect the public opinion of Republic of China (Taiwan), stop imposing its political frameworks on and end all saber-rattling against Taiwan, truly deliver the talk of preserving cross-Strait peace instead of undermining it in reality, and handle issues in a pragmatic and rational manner.