One of the significant modifications of the online information sheet of the United States State Department on China eliminates the official name of the country, People's Republic of China (RPC) and leaves only China.
The People's Republic of China is out. Instead, only China remained.
This is one of the significant modifications of the online information sheet of the United States Department of the United States on the Asian country, which eliminates the official name of the country: the People's Republic of China (RPC), in favor of just leaving only China.
The administration of former president Joe Biden referred routinely to the Beijing government with the abbreviation PRC. Since former president Richard Nixon began the process to normalize relations with Beijing, which would end the recognition of the Taipei government, officially known as the Republic of China, on January 1, 1979, the United States has maintained diplomatic links with the government Directed by communists in the continent, while reduced the relationship with Taiwan to an unofficial, but friendly.
“Taipéi should be comforted with the fact that the change in the term (from PRC to China) does not represent a change of policy in the United States. The fact is that the United States still has its China 'policy and, under that policy, maintains diplomatic relations with Beijing and solid unofficial relationships with Taipéi, ”Russell Hsiao, executive director of the Global Taiwan Institute, told the voice of America. .
“Since 1979, Washington has recognized the Government of Beijing of the People's Republic of China as the only legal government of China, so the change of term is essentially a different way of presenting the same set of facts, which have not changed at all ”Said Hsiao.
China considers Taiwan a rebel province. The nationalist forces, backed by the United States and commanded by Chiang Kai-Shek, fled from the continent to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war against the communist forces led by Mao Zedong.
Chiang became the relatively benign dictator of Taiwan until his death in 1975. Mao ruled the continent as a rigid author until his death a year after Chiang's.
Washington continues to supply weapons to Taipéi and has left ambiguous the question of whether the United States would use its army to defend the island if Taiwan were attacked. The Taiwan relations law commits the United States to help Taiwan defend himself, but the final decision on military intervention would fall on the president and Congress.
The drafting changes made last week by the State Department eliminated a reference that Washington did not support Taiwan's independence, but left intact the content that indicated that the United States opposes the “unilateral changes of the status quo” on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
However, a significant change on the website of the State Department on China is the elimination of content on cooperation with allies in matters related to China and on the aid to Beijing in cultural and environmental protection matters.
Instead, there is a new language focused on the commercial relationship between the United States and China, pointing out the difficulty for US companies to operate in China and that the Chinese economy is “one of the most restrictive investment climates in the world.”
Another change of tone, in line with the rhetoric used by the administration of President Donald Trump, is reflected in the frequent references to the Chinese Communist Party (PCCH). The party is directly accused of trying to “manipulate and subvert” the United Nations organizations and other international organizations and to seek to “prepare and install members of the PCCH in leadership positions and other positions” in these groups.
In the recently edited information sheet, the PCCH of “malicious cybernetic activity against the US government, the private sector and critical infrastructure networks” is also blamed. The document now indicates that the United States is dedicated to counteracting these activities “to help protect citizens, companies and US industries.”
“These movements reflect a general sensation in Washington and within the Trump administration that the commitment to China has failed and a harder approach is justified,” he told the Voa Rrory Daniels, managing director of the Institute of Policy of Asian Society.
“This mood has accumulated, particularly in Congress, for years, and a change of emphasis is not a surprise. However, the change of the People's Republic of China by China reflects a deeper and more dangerous narrative that attacks the legitimacy of the PCCH as China's ruling authority. I hope Beijing see this with great concern and raise it at the highest levels in the next few days and weeks, ”Daniels added.
The spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guo Jiakun, responded during Thursday's habitual press conference and expressed his strong dissatisfaction with the changes on the website.
The actions of the State Department “misrepresent the facts, attack China's foreign policy and promote the so -called strategic competence between China and the United States. We deplore it vigorously and oppose firmly, ”said Guo.
The changes occur after Trump imposed an additional 10 % tariff on all imports from China. The president said he was taking the measure because the Beijing government has not been able to stop the flow to the United States of illicit fentanyl opioid.
Trump has also announced that he intends to establish more retaliation tariffs on all commercial partners that limit access to the United States.