Washington, Nov. 14 (CNA) The U.S. State Department said Saturday that the United States takes no position on the issue of Taiwan sovereignty, after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was criticized by Beijing as "meddling in China's internal affairs" with his comment that "Taiwan has not been a part of China."

"The U.S. has long had a One-China policy," a State Department spokesperson said in a statement to Taiwan media. "This is distinct from Beijing's 'One China Principle' under which the Chinese Communist Party asserts sovereignty over Taiwan. The United States takes no position on sovereignty over Taiwan."

The spokesperson said the U.S.' One China policy remains guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques between the U.S. and China, and the Six Assurances to Taiwan, as it has been in the past four decades.

"The fundamental U.S. interest is that the Taiwan question be resolved peacefully, without coercion, and in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait -- as Beijing promised," the spokesperson said.

On Thursday's Hugh Hewitt Show, Pompeo was asked if Washington's commitments to Taiwan were bipartisan and if Beijing should realize that the commitments are bipartisan, while there's "crazy talk among most elements of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) that Taiwan ought to be retaken by force if necessary."

The top diplomat of the outgoing Donald Trump administration, who has been critical of Beijing's suppression of Taiwan, said "Taiwan has not been a part of China, and that was recognized with the work that the Reagan administration did to lay out the policy that the United States has adhered to now for three-and-a-half decades and has done so under both administrations."

"I actually think this is, in fact, bipartisan," he added.

Asked Friday to comment on the statement, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said Pompeo was "meddling in China's internal affairs."

China's Taiwan Affairs Office, meanwhile, said Pompeo's statement has betrayed the "one China principle" and the three China-U.S. Joint Communiques.