China opposes contact between Taiwan Vice President, US officials

Beijing [China], January 21 : Ahead of Taiwan Vice President William Lai's plans to meet with US officials, China has strongly opposed this contact between the United States and Taiwan.
Lai is set to travel to Honduras to attend the inauguration of newly-elected President Xiomara Castro later this month, Taiwan Focus reported. During his travel to the Central American country, Taiwan Vice President is planning stopovers in the US.
Lai will have a series of phone calls and virtual meetings with US government officials and political representatives, the report added.
"The so-called 'stopover' of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party in the United States to establish contact with the local authorities is yet another trick of the island's administration to break away. But no tricks will change the fact that there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is part of it," said Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council on Thursday.
The spokesperson asked the US to respect the "One China" principle and refrain from sending mixed signals to pro-independence forces in Taiwan, stressing that Beijing is strongly opposed to any official contacts between the two.
The spokesperson also advised against the support of Taiwanese independence ambitions, saying that it would further destabilize the situation and backfire on Taiwan itself.
China continues to stake claims over Taiwan despite its self-governance for over seven decades.
Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan maintains that it is an autonomous country with political and economic relations with several other nations.