US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday voiced concern over China’s aggression in the Taiwan Strait during a year-end news conference in Washington.
The US and its allies are “more closely aligned than ever” to face the challenges presented by Beijing, Blinken said.
Deepened cooperation and coordination with allies have enabled more effective strategies toward issues including “China’s coercive trade and economic practices, peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China seas, and human rights,” he said.
Photo: AFP
“We will continue to engage with China from a position of strength” with a stronger-than-ever partnership in the Indo-Pacific, he said, citing “a new era of trilateral cooperation” the US formed at Camp David with Japan and South Korea in August.
At the same time, the restoration of high-level diplomacy with Beijing has allowed Washington to “take practical steps to reduce the risk that competition veers into conflict,” he said.
Meanwhile, NBC News on Wednesday reported that the US rejected China’s request for a joint statement supporting the unification of Beijing and Taipei after a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last month.
NBC News cited two current and one former US officials who had been briefed on the issue.
Before the meeting, Chinese officials asked that Biden make a public statement afterward saying that the US supports China’s pursuit of peaceful unification with Taiwan and does not support Taiwan’s independence, a request that was rejected by the White House, it said.
Xi “bluntly” told Biden during their meeting that China will “reunify” Taiwan, but it has not decided on the timing yet, the officials were cited as saying.
Beijing preferred the unification be achieved peacefully, Xi told Biden, they said.
Regarding reports that during their meeting, Xi denied suspicions that China planned to take military action against Taiwan in 2027 or 2035, the officials said that Xi told Biden that the suspicion was wrong “because he has not set a time frame.”
Xi also expressed concerns about the nation’s presidential candidates in next month’s election and mentioned the influence of the US on Taiwan, NBC News reported without elaborating.
In response to Biden’s request that China respect Taiwan’s electoral process, Xi responded that peace is “all well and good,” but that China needs to eventually move toward a resolution, one US official was quoted as saying.
In Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) yesterday said that Taiwan and the US have maintained good communication and a trusted relationship.
Taiwan appreciated the US’ long-term support for peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues and opposition to unilateral changes to the “status quo,” he said.
Also US Senator Lindsey Graham said he would help draft sanctions to impose on China if it tried invading Taiwan.
Graham said on Wednesday that he would work with lawmakers from both parties to “create a robust defense supplemental for Taiwan and second, draft preinvasion sanctions from hell to impose on China if they take action to seize Taiwan.”
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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