Editor's note: Zhang Hua, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a researcher at the Taiwan Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaffirmed China's principled position on resolving the Taiwan question at a press conference on March 8. His remarks once again make clear that: "Taiwan independence" separatism and external interference gravely violate the historical and legal fact that Taiwan is part of China, severely harm the common interests of all sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, including compatriots in Taiwan, and will add new uncertainties to regional peace and global prosperity.

Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. This historical and legal fact cannot be altered.

Records of the Lands and Waters of Linhai, a pioneering Chinese geographical and ethnographic work during the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220-280), contains the earliest written account of Taiwan. After the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, China's central government began to establish administrative organs and exercise jurisdiction over Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. 

The Qing government expanded administrative institutions in Taiwan: In 1684, it established Taiwan Prefecture under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province; in 1885, Taiwan was upgraded to a province, becoming the 20th province of China at that time.

Taiwan's status as part of China has been confirmed by international law and international instruments as well, forming an important component of the post-World War II international order.

In 1941, China issued a declaration of war against Japan, announcing the recovery of Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. In 1943, China, the United States and the United Kingdom issued the Cairo Declaration, stating that the three allies' purpose was to restore to China all the territories Japan had stolen from China, including Taiwan and the Penghu Islands.

In 1945, China, the US, UK and the Soviet Union issued the Potsdam Proclamation, reaffirming that "the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out." After Japan's defeat, the Chinese government "resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan" on October 25 of the same year. In 1971, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758, which once again confirmed that Taiwan is part of China.

Today's Lai Ching-te authorities in Taiwan are stubbornly pursuing "Taiwan independence" separatism, gravely undermining the overall interests of all Chinese people, including compatriots in Taiwan.

After taking office in 2024, Lai refused to recognize the 1992 Consensus, the pivotal agreement that recognizes that "both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China." 

Lai also promoted the "two states" theory, an erroneous position that the two sides of the Strait do not belong to each other, illegally suppressed pro-unification forces on the island and attempted to cut off cross-Strait people-to-people exchanges, putting peace across the Taiwan Strait under severe test.

To counter "Taiwan independence" separatism, the Chinese mainland has imposed punitive measures on diehard "Taiwan independence" elements and their accomplices. The People's Liberation Army successively organized a series of exercises.

Lai stubbornly adheres to the policy of "relying on the US to seek independence," claiming to "build a Taiwan-Japan community of shared destiny," clamoring for joining the UN and other international organizations, attempting to create "one China, one Taiwan" on the international stage and disrupting and undermining the international one-China principle.

What is particularly alarming is that the Lai authorities have reached a reciprocal trade agreement with the US, committing to invest $500 billion in the US and purchase $84.8 billion worth of US products, and approved high-tech companies in Taiwan to set up factories in the US. This has severely hollowed out the foundation of Taiwan's economic development and cast a shadow over its development prospects.

Multiple opinion polls on the island show that Lai's approval rating has long remained below 50 percent, and more than half of the people worry that the US will turn its back on Taiwan.

The US has continued to sell arms to Taiwan, send senior officials to Taiwan and warships via Taiwan Strait. Japanese politicians clamor that "a contingency in Taiwan is a contingency for Japan" and are strengthening substantive relations with the Taiwan region, all in serious violation of their commitments to China.

The Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America, issued in December 1978, states: "The Government of the United States of America acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China" and "The Government of the United States of America recognizes the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China. Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan." Japan and other countries have expressed identical positions in their joint communiques or statements on establishing diplomatic relations with China.

The intervention of the US, Japan, and other countries in the Taiwan question has seriously undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and negatively impacted the global economy. As Chinese President Xi Jinping once said, Taiwan question is at the very core of China's core interests, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-US relations, and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations.

Both China's government work report and the draft outline of 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) stress that the Taiwan question is China's internal affair, and external interference will never be allowed. For the US, Japan, and other countries to connive at and support "Taiwan independence" is to challenge China's sovereignty. To insist on maintaining official relations with Taiwan is to interfere in China's internal affairs.

As Wang said during the press conference, "Taiwan has been an integral part of China since ancient times. It never was, is not, and never will be a country." "Taiwan independence" separatism in any form will never succeed. The historical process of resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China's complete reunification is irresistible.

The clearer the international community's stance against "Taiwan independence" separatism and the firmer its commitment to the one-China principle, the greater the guarantee for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the more secure the security and development interests of the international community will be.

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