TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Sunday (Dec. 11) denounced the joint statement issued by China and Saudi Arabia at the Saudi-Chinese Summit on Dec. 9.

The two countries pledged to continue supporting each other's core interests and maintaining their sovereignty and territorial integrity. Saudi Arabia also reaffirmed that Taiwan is “an inalienable part of China's territory” and opposed Taiwan independence.

MOFA accused Beijing of spreading false statements globally and reiterated that Taiwan can only be represented by an elected government chosen by the Taiwanese under a free and democratic system, per a foreign ministry press release. “The authoritarian government led by the Communist Party of China must recognize and respect this unchangeable fact,” it said.

The foreign ministry said Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country. Taiwan and China are not subordinate to each other, which has long been recognized by the international community as the status quo and accepted as such, the ministry added.

As the world is striving to promote economic and social development and restore normality in people’s livelihoods in the post-COVID era, China is still spreading the false claim that ‘Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China’, MOFA said. Making false claims will not only make the Taiwanese feel more disgusted with the CCP’s authoritarian government but also make the global democratic community recognize “China’s bullying, disruption of peace, and wanton expansion and aggression,” the ministry said.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) visited Saudi Arabia from Dec. 7-9 to bolster the Chinese-Saudi partnership.