BEIJING, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Some Facts About Pelosi's Visit to Taiwan

Introduction

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi made a provocative visit to China's Taiwan region recently in disregard of the Chinese side's stern warnings. The visit seriously infringes on China's sovereignty and security, seriously undermines China's territorial integrity, seriously jeopardizes peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and seriously erodes the political foundation of China-US relations. The Chinese side has been compelled to take countermeasures. The US side has been pushing disinformation to confuse right and wrong and confound black and white, criticizing China's legitimate countermeasures and trying to mislead the world about the Taiwan question. It is necessary to set the record straight with facts and lay bare the US's hegemonic nature and gangster logic.

Fact No. 1: The one-China principle is the political foundation of China-US relations. The meaning of this principle is clear and accurate. There is but one China in the world, Taiwan is part of China, and the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. This is the original meaning of one China, and a universal consensus of the international community. The United States, while claiming to uphold the one-China policy, is in effect using the “salami tactic” to distort, falsify, obscure and hollow out the one-China principle.

Taiwan has belonged to China since ancient times. This claim has a sound basis in history and jurisprudence.

A large number of historical records and annals document the development of Taiwan by the Chinese people in earlier periods. The earliest references are to be found in 230 A.D. during the Three Kingdoms Period. Starting from the Song and Yuan dynasties, central governments of China had set up administrative bodies to exercise jurisdiction over Penghu and Taiwan. After mid-16th century during the Ming dynasty, official documents began to use the name Taiwan formally. In 1624, Dutch colonialists invaded and occupied the southern part of Taiwan. In 1662, national hero Zheng Chenggong led an expedition to expel the Dutch occupiers and recover Taiwan. Subsequently, the government of the Qing dynasty increased its administrative bodies in Taiwan gradually. In 1684, a Taiwan pre