A man walks along the waterfront under the smoky sky in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Aug. 13, 2021. Vancouver was shrouded in smoke haze on Friday due to wildfires.Photo:Xinhua

As Canada's Vancouver plans to establish a friendship city with a city on the China's island of Taiwan, China reiterates it's firmly opposed to such an official mechanism of engagement, said the spokesperson for the Chinese Consulate General in Vancouver on Monday.

In the past few days, media reported that Vancouver is planning to establish friendship cities with Kaohsiung on the island of Taiwan. In response, the Chinese Consulate General in Vancouver pointed out that if Vancouver establishes relations of sister cities, friendship cities or friendly cities with cities in Taiwan through official authorization, city council approval or official written exchange of letters, they are all exchanges of an official nature and are all part of the official engagement mechanism.

"We firmly oppose such relations," said the spokesperson. "We hope that the Vancouver government deals with Taiwan-related affairs with caution."

The spokesperson stressed that the one-China principle is the universal consensus of the international community and the political foundation of China-Canada relations. "To comply with the one-China principle, a country must not engage in any form of official contacts with the Taiwan authorities," said the spokesman.

Previous reports said that Vancouver's mayor Kennedy Stewart said on Friday in a meeting with local Taiwanese that he would be happy to see Kaohsiung of Taiwan become the first city to establish friendship cities relationship with Vancouver.

The spokesman also pointed out that the current Democratic Progressive Party authorities in Taiwan, under the banner of democracy and human rights, are doing everything possible to undermine at the international level the "One China" consensus, taking the opportunity to develop official relations with other countries and expand the so-called international space.

Global Times