Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Some US media outlets, which are not good at history, recently have made a lot of noises on Taiwan's historical status, launching a round of public opinion offensive that distorts the narrative about the Taiwan Straits. For instance, they claimed Taiwan doesn't belong to China in history in the name of "exposing lies" and misinterpreted the facts to argue US' one-China policy doesn't include Taiwan. It's not hard to find that they were repeating, using a megaphone, the shabby lies long concocted by Taiwan secessionists such as the so-called theory of the undetermined status of Taiwan. This has almost made people believe they are the pro-independence media manipulated by the Democratic Progressive Party. 

These claims are full of loopholes and are not worth refuting at all. China was the first to discover and record the existence of the Taiwan region, and it first established administrative jurisdiction over Penghu and Taiwan. The history of Taiwan belonging to China is much longer than US history. Based on the logic of US media that "first discovery, first use, and first jurisdiction don't mean having sovereignty," the land forcibly seized in the United States Westward Expansion has no legitimacy, and it should not be recognized that the sovereignty belongs to the US. In fact, even Japan, which occupied Taiwan through the Treaty of Shimonoseki, recognized the sovereignty of the Qing government over Taiwan. Otherwise, why have the word "cede" used in the treaty? In addition, if the statement regarding one-China when China and the US established diplomatic relations did not involve the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty, why did Washington" cut off diplomatic relations" with the Taiwan authorities and promised not to develop official relations with the Taiwan island?

The US media is trying to dismember Taiwan's history. To put it bluntly, it is rooting through the garbage heap for so-called "historical evidence" in order to "use Taiwan island to contain China." This is completely historical nihilism under evil intentions. Not only did they ignore the UN resolutions, but they also played with words, and cooperated with the US government to hollow out and blur the one-China principle. They also attempted to distort history to define General Zheng Chenggong who recovered Taiwan as China's territory, the Qing Dynasty and even the Kuomintang as "colonialists," treating them the same as Dutch colonialist. To put it bluntly, they fantasize about dismantling the one-China principle on a deeper level, while also covering up Washington's disgraceful practices on the Taiwan question. 

But this only reveals their own ignorance regarding history. Over the years, the DPP authorities have made great efforts to find ways to sever the island of Taiwan's historical origin and cultural ties with the Chinese mainland and have gone to great lengths to rewrite, fabricate and fictionalize Taiwan's history. They were even ridiculed several times. This is one of the serial actions by the DPP authorities to seek "Taiwan independence," and to some extent the most harmful one as it aims at poisoning the roots. But what is faked must be fake, and the ideological garbage concocted by Taiwan secessionists, such as "Taiwanese are ethnic people of mixed race" and "the theory of the undetermined status of Taiwan," is not recognized by any serious historical writings in the international arena. Now, some US media think they have hit the jackpot with such rhetoric, making it clear that they are quite ignorant.

Probably it is because the US has long been worried about historical origins, so that it values historical nihilism so much. In 1661, when General Zheng Chenggong recovered the island of Taiwan, the first European settlers had not yet established themselves in North America and were dependent on the indigenous American Indians, the true owners of the land. It was more than 100 years since then that the US declared its independence. There is more than 2 million square kilometers of land in the US that was seized from Mexico by force or trickery. US public opinion historically "whitewashed" the government's aggression and expansion on the American continent by alleging the so-called "manifest destiny." But now, in order to stir up the situation in the Taiwan Straits, they disregard basic historical facts, adding fuel to "the theory of the undetermined status of Taiwan" claimed by the DPP authority. However, these lies will not serve any purpose other than to shame themselves.

As for the real history, the just released white paper "The Taiwan Question and China's Reunification in the New Era" has made authoritative and systematic elaboration of cross-Straits deep historical and cultural connections. Though the two sides haven't achieved full reunification, China's sovereignty and territory have never been and will never be allowed to be separated. The status that Taiwan is a part of Chinese territory has never changed and will never be allowed to change. It was clearly stated in the official legal opinions of the Office of Legal Affairs of the UN Secretariat that "the United Nations considers 'Taiwan' as a province of China with no separate status." The Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America released in December 1978 stated that "The Government of the United States of America acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China." Any historical nihilism is ridiculous and futile in the face of hard facts.

We would also like to point out that American politicians and media outlets had thought that they have played many tactical "smart moves", but it is difficult to hide their foolishness in strategy. Practices such as fabricating rumors, smearing, distorting history are not decent, but only make Chinese people more aware of international politics and more determined in realizing reunification of the motherland. Washington elites fantasize about crossing China's red line using "salami slicing" approach, but the existence of "Taiwan secessionist" regime is the salami that will be eventually cut by history.