China says Taiwan 'never a country' after Taiwan asserts 'sovereignty, independence'

China on Monday said that Taiwan is "never a country, not in the past, and never in the future," a day after Taiwan on Saturday said that it is a "sovereign and independent democratic nation."

"'Taiwan independence' and cross-Strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water. To seek 'Taiwan independence' by soliciting external support is a dead end," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said during a regular news conference.

"Cross-strait reunification is the only bright path forward," he added, urging the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to "recognize the overwhelming trend, stop burying their heads in the sand, and stop going further down the wrong path."

US President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Friday that he wants Taiwan and China to "cool down" amid tensions between the two sides.

Responding to Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te's remarks on Sunday that Taiwan "will never be sacrificed or traded away" as well as continued US weapons sale to Taiwan and deepened Taiwan-US security cooperation are "necessary and key elements in maintaining regional peace and stability," Guo said China's "firm opposition" to US arms sales to China's Taiwan region is consistent and clear.

"The Chinese mainland and Taiwan belong to one and the same China. This constitutes the real status quo in the Taiwan Strait," Guo said, in response to Lai's assertion that maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait has long been a broad consensus and "shared interest of Taiwan, the United States and all democratic countries around the world."

"By colluding with external forces to seek independence and attempting to make the Taiwan question an international issue, the Lai Ching-te authorities are the biggest destroyer of the status quo and the biggest source of disruption to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," he said.

China considers Taiwan its "breakaway province," while Taipei has insisted on its independence since 1949.