US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a crisis over Taiwan would lead to “a global economic crisis,” while US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink underlined the importance of cross-strait peace and stability.
Blinken made the remarks in an interview with The Atlantic magazine at The Atlantic Festival on Thursday.
China has been attempting to change the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait since 2016, which has been met by strong opposition from countries around the world, Blinken said.
Photo: screen grab from The Atlantic’s Web site
“The stakes not just for Taiwan, but quite literally for the entire world are extraordinarily high” considering the amount of traffic that travels through the Taiwan Strait every day and the semiconductors manufactured in Taiwan, he said.
“Were there to be a crisis over Taiwan precipitated by Chinese actions, you would have a global economic crisis,” he added.
Blinken said that the message the world is sending to China should be clear: “Everyone wants peace and stability. Everyone wants the status quo to be preserved.”
On Wednesday, Kritenbrink met with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sun Weidong (孫衛東) in Washington to discuss regional issues “as part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication,” the US Department of State said in a press release.
Kritenbrink stressed “the importance of a free and open, connected, prosperous, resilient and secure Indo-Pacific region and upholding the rules-based international order,” the statement said.
He also “reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” it added.
In a press release the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued yesterday, it said Sun “emphasized that the ‘one China’ principle is the cornerstone of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Beijing views positive China-US interactions in the Asia-Pacific region as serving the common interests of both sides and agrees to maintain communication with the US on Asia-Pacific affairs, the ministry cited Sun as saying.
High-level interactions between the US and China have been held frequently in the past few months, with Blinken, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo visiting China in June, July and last month respectively.
Blinken on Monday met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng (韓正) on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Earlier this month, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) in Malta.
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported that Washington and Beijing are paving the way for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit US President Joe Biden.
In other developments, the New York and Chicago branches of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) blasted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China.
The New York office issued a press release rebutting Chinese Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun’s (張軍) statement to reporters on Tuesday that UN Secretary-
General Antonio Guterres reaffirmed the international body’s adherence to Resolution 2758 and the “one China principle.”
The resolution recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China,” but does not mention Taiwan and does not state that “Taiwan is part of the PRC,” nor does it authorize the PRC to represent Taiwanese in the UN system, the New York office said.
China’s attempt to impose the so-called “one-China principle” on other countries and international organizations will only “fuel the resentment and disgust of the Taiwanese people and the international community,” it said.
In a letter published in the Star Tribune on Wednesday, TECO Chicago Director-General Dennis Yen-feng Lei (類延峰) said the Chinese consul general in Chicago, Zhao Jian (趙建), “falsely claimed Taiwan as ‘an inalienable part of China.’”
Lei called on Beijing to respect the “status quo” — ie, neither Taiwan nor China is subordinate to the other — and “refrain from coercing the world into accepting its spurious ‘one China principle.’”
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