ISTANBUL

China said Thursday that it “strongly deplores and firmly opposes” revisions by the US State Department of its fact sheet on the country.

“The changes made by the US State Department on its ‘US-China Relations’ page and ‘US Relations With China’ fact sheet misrepresent the facts, attack China’s foreign policy, and peddle so-called China-US strategic competition,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news conference in Beijing.

Previously, the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs on the US State Department's website said the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.”

But the updated version of the factsheet, published on Feb. 13, now reads: “We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait.”
The revised statement also adds a reference to the trade deficit between the two world's top two economies and China’s “abusive, unfair and illegal” economic practices as well as identifying the country as simply China, instead of the People's Republic of China, or PRC.

It adds that Washington views its relationship with China as a "strategic competition in response to the direct challenges that China presents to US interests."

China urges the US to adhere to "common understandings" established during a phone call between the two presidents, Guo said, calling on the US to “stop misleading the American public and the international community, cease smearing and pressuring China.”

Beijing urges Washington to “approach China-US relations objectively and rationally and work together to promote their stable, healthy and sustainable development," he added.

The US "works to deter China’s aggression, combat China’s unfair trade policies, counter China’s malicious cyber activity, end China’s global trafficking of fentanyl precursors, mitigate China’s manipulation of international organizations and promote accountability for China’s violations of human rights within China and around the globe," reads the updated version by the State Department.

The website’s revision came about three weeks after President Donald Trump began his second term.

A State Department spokesperson said late Sunday that the update was a "routine measure" to keep the public informed about the US's unofficial relationship with Taiwan.

China views Taiwan as a “breakaway province,” while Taiwan has maintained its independence since 1949.