BEIJING,????? ?????? ???????? ???? Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- China strongly condemns the U.S. arranging for Lai Ching-te's "stopover" and has lodged serious protests with the United States, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Sunday.

It is reported that leader of China's Taiwan region Lai Ching-te has begun his trip to so-called "diplomatic allies" in the Pacific, and he has arrived in Hawaii for a "stopover."

In response, the spokesperson said that China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the U.S. and the Taiwan region, firmly opposes any trip by leader of the Taiwan authorities to the U.S. in any name or under whatever pretext, and firmly opposes any form of U.S. connivance or support for "Taiwan independence" separatists and their separatist activities.

China strongly condemns the U.S. arranging for Lai Ching-te's "stopover" and has lodged serious protests with the United States, the spokesperson said.

"The Taiwan question is at the core of China's core interests, and the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-U.S. relations. We urge the U.S. to fully see the separatist nature of Lai Ching-te and Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, fully understand the grave damage that 'Taiwan independence' separatist activities do to cross-Strait peace and stability, fully abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, act on the commitments made by U.S. leaders such as not supporting 'Taiwan independence,' stop having official interaction with the Taiwan region, and stop sending any wrong signal to 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that China will closely follow the developments and take resolute and strong measures to defend China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Mainland firmly opposes Lai Ching-te's U.S. "stopover": spokesperson