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
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS