China to US: Taiwan an internal matter, do not intervene

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that America is sending "wrong and dangerous" signals over Taiwan, calling the island its "internal matter."

The United States is attempting to undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity over Taiwan, Wang told Blinken in New York, according to a read-out from his ministry on Saturday.

"Taiwan is an internal matter, the US has no right to intervene in any way to resolve it," Yi said.

"The more rampant 'Taiwan independence' activities are, the less likely  a peaceful settlement will be made."

Yi added that Beijing will continue to adhere to the principles of "peaceful reunification, one country, two systems."

The Chinese foreign minister's comments came after Blinken stressed the maintenance of peace in Taiwan earlier on Friday amid high tensions over the island.

Talks over Taiwan

Taiwan was the focus of the 90-minute, "direct and honest" talks between Blinken and a top Chinese diplomat on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a senior administration official told reporters.

"For our part, the secretary made crystal clear that, in accordance with our long-standing one-China policy, which again has not changed, the maintenance of peace and stability across the Strait is absolutely, vitally important," the official said.

China calls Taiwan its breakaway province. The island says it's an independent country. 

Tensions over Taiwan have soared after a visit there in August by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi –– which was followed by large-scale Chinese military drills –– as well as a pledge by US President Joe Biden to defend the island.

Biden's statement was his most explicit to date about committing US troops to defend the island.

It was also the latest instance of his appearing to go beyond a long-standing US policy of "strategic ambiguity," which does not make it clear whether Washington would respond militarily to an attack on Taiwan.

The White House has insisted its Taiwan policy has not changed, but China said Biden's remarks sent the wrong signal to those seeking an independent Taiwan.

Earlier in the week, Wang met former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, 99, the architect of US relations with Communist China, and said a "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan was China's aspiration.

However, Wang said the possibility of a peaceful resolution was diminished by ever more "rampant" Taiwanese independence sentiment and he invoked a Chinese proverb: "It is better to lose a thousand soldiers than an inch of territory."