US President Joe Biden on Saturday affirmed his willingness to protect the US’ allies and reiterated that peace in the Taiwan Strait should be upheld, as Washington again called on Beijing to restrain itself after it conducted two-day military drills around Taiwan.
“I’ve always been willing to use force when required to protect our nation, our allies, our core interests. When anyone targets American troops, we will deliver justice to them,” Biden said in a speech to cadets graduating from the US Military Academy in West Point, New York.
He touted US security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, including the AUKUS security pact with Australia and the UK, trilateral cooperation with Japan and South Korea, and recent engagement with Japan and the Philippines.
Photo: Reuters
The US also elevated the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia, India and Japan to support a “free, open, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Biden said.
“We’re standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
Thanks to US military forces, the country is able to defend its values “by standing up to tyrants,” he said.
“Anyone who thinks they can threaten us, think again,” he added.
On the same day as Biden’s address, the US Department of State issued a statement to “strongly urge Beijing to act with restraint” after its drills around Taiwan.
After President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on Monday, Beijing said his speech was an attempt to promote Taiwanese independence, in particular his statement that Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are not subordinate to one another.
On Thursday and Friday, China conducted a large-scale military exercise, codenamed “Joint Sword-2024A,” around Taiwan, sparking concern and condemnation among the international community.
The US was “deeply concerned” about the military drills in the Strait and around Taiwan, US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said.
“We are monitoring PRC activities closely and coordinating with allies and partners regarding our shared concerns,” Miller said.
Beijing is “using a normal, routine, and democratic transition as an excuse for military provocations,” he said, adding that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait “is critical for regional and global security and prosperity.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement yesterday thanked Biden and the US government for supporting Taiwan.
At a time when democracies around the globe are facing challenges, like-minded partners have unanimously demanded that China exercise restraint, stop coercing Taiwan and cease any actions that undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said.
The international community would not approve of Beijing’s attempts to blatantly interfere with Taipei’s democratic process, and would consider them provocative actions that aim to disrupt the “status quo,” it said.
The ministry called on China to resume exchanges and dialogue with Taiwan based on the principles of equality and dignity, and to jointly safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Meanwhile, a group of US representatives, led by Republican Michael McCaul, who chairs the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, yesterday arrived in Taipei.
The delegation includes Republicans Young Kim, Joe Wilson and Andy Barr, and Democrats Jimmy Panetta and Chrissy Houlahan, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement.
Their four-day visit to Taiwan is part of a trip to the wider Indo-Pacific region, the AIT said.
The six representatives would be the first group of serving US officials to meet with Lai after his inauguration and China’s two-day drills.
“I think it’s very important that we show our strong support for Taiwan. I think it is a deterrent,” McCaul told NBC News before arriving in Taiwan.
Additional reporting by CNA
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
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
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
RSS