China has expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition and has lodged solemn representations with the United States over the upcoming visit of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to the Taiwan region, said Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, on Wednesday.

The one-China principle is the political foundation of Sino-U.S. relations and a common consensus of the international community, Wang said.

China strongly urged the U.S. side to adhere to the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques and to stop any official contact between U.S. and the Taiwan region, he said.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson added that the U.S. side should take cautious approach towards any issues related to the Taiwan region and avoid sending wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" forces, thus compromising the Sino-U.S. bilateral relations.

"What I want to stress is that the one-China principle is widely recognized by the international community," Wang said. "Any attempts to ignore, deny or challenge the principle will be doomed to fail."

(Cover: China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs office building in Beijing, China. /VCG)