The final list leaves out several ostensible U.S. partners such as Turkey, a member of NATO, underscoring the challenge the administration faced in pinning down the invitees.

Including Taiwan may be the most controversial decision the administration has made about the summit, even though the island does have one of Asia’s more vibrant and free-wheeling democracies. That’s because only a handful of nations — the U.S. not among them — recognize it as sovereign.

China has assailed nations, companies and international organizations that treat the island as an independent entity. Most recently, Beijing downgraded ties with Lithuania’s government after Taiwan opened a diplomatic office in the Baltic nation.

“China firmly opposes the invitation by the U.S. to the Taiwan authorities to participate in the summit for democracy,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Wednesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

“There is only one China in the world and the government of the PRC is the sole legal government representing the whole of China,” he said, referring to the People’s Republic of China, which is the formal the name of the mainland’s government.