Mainland decries US official's spin on communique

The Foreign Ministry returned fire in a war of words with the chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan over an interpretation of a joint statement issued after last week's meeting between US President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao.

"Taiwan is an inseparable part of China," said ministry spokesman Qin Gang. "Respecting China's sovereignty and territorial integrity certainly applies to Taiwan."

Qin was responding to Raymond Burghardt's remarks on Tuesday that the US government admits that the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Tibet are parts of the mainland, but that the island of Taiwan is not mentioned in the communiqu.