US President Joe Biden welcomed the leaders of the two countries at Camp David on Friday.
In a joint statement, the three leaders said they rejected China’s “dangerous and aggressive behavior” in maritime disputes in the East and South China Sea.
The document stated that peace and stability with respect to Taiwan was an “indispensable element of security and prosperity in the international community.”
“There are no changes in our basic positions on Taiwan, and we call for the peaceful resolution of the problems on both sides of the strait,” the three leaders said.
Beijing responded Monday that the leaders had “denigrated and attacked China on Taiwan-related and maritime issues, interfered in China’s internal affairs, and deliberately sowed discord between China and its neighbors.”
On Saturday, China held a new round of military exercises around the self-ruled island as a “warning” after the vice president of the Taiwanese government made a stopover in the United States.
“The Taiwan question is a purely China’s internal matter. Resolving the Taiwan question is China’s own matter,” Wang Wenbin, the foreign ministry spokesman, insisted on Monday.
China regards Taiwan as its own territory that it must one day regain, even by force, and opposes any official contact between the island and Western countries.
FOUNTAIN: With information from AFP
