BEIJING, Dec. 15 -- "The US side should earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three China–US joint communiqués, stop sending wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces, and cease fueling tensions across the Taiwan Strait," said Senior Colonel Jiang Bin, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense (MND), at a press briefing on Monday.

He made the remarks when asked to comment on media reports that the US's newly-released National Security Strategy stated it does not support any unilateral changes to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, and the National Defense Authorization Act approved by the US House of Representatives also contains a number of negative provisions related to Taiwan. In addition, the US Secretary of War said at the Reagan National Defense Forum that the US intends to deploy military forces within the first island chain to deter and, if necessary, defeat any conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

Spokesperson Jiang pointed out that there is but one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China, which is a fact based on history and jurisprudence, and is also the true status quo in the Taiwan Strait that cannot be changed. How to resolve the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese people, which brooks no external interference. Any attempt to contain China with Taiwan is doomed to fail.

"We hope that the US will rectify its strategic perception of China, meet China halfway, stay committed to the principles of non-conflict and non-confrontation, and work with China to foster a military-to-military relationship based on equality, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence, as well as stable, positive development. This will inject greater certainty and positive energy into the development of China–US relations as well as the cause of world peace and stability," added the spokesperson.