The Manila Times

US vows more Taiwan trade, transits

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The United States will boost its trade with Taiwan in response to China’s “provocative” behavior, the White House said on Friday (Saturday in Manila), as it insisted on the right of air and sea passage through the tense strait separating the two Chinese sides.

A new trade plan will be unveiled within days, while American forces will transit the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks, said Kurt Campbell, White House coordinator for Asia-Pacific issues and an adviser to US President Joe Biden.

The statement came after Beijing expressed outrage over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week and launched its largest-ever military drills around the self-ruled island in response.

Taiwan has accused China of using the visit of Pelosi, the highestranking elected American official to visit the island in decades, as an excuse to kickstart drills that Taipei called a rehearsal for invasion.

China views Taiwan as its own territory to be seized one day by force, if necessary.

Campbell said Pelosi’s visit was “consistent” with Washington’s existing policy and that China had “overreacted.”

Beijing used the pretext to “launch an intensified pressure campaign against Taiwan to try to change the status quo, jeopardizing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region,” he added.

“China has overreacted and its actions continue to be provocative, destabilizing and unprecedented,” the White House official said.

In response to China’s drills, the US is reasserting its involvement in the area, while reiterating its policy of “strategic ambiguity” — diplomatically recognizing China while simultaneously supporting Taiwan’s self-rule.

‘Ambitious road map’

Campbell said the Biden administration would continue to “deepen our ties with Taiwan, including [by] continuing to advance our economic and trade relationship.”

“For example, we’re developing an ambitious road map for trade negotiations [that] we intend to announce in the coming days,” he added.

The US would also reassert its right to use international air and sea space between Taiwan and China, according to the official.

American forces “will continue to fly, sail and operate where international law allows, consistent with our long-standing commitment to freedom of navigation,” Campbell told reporters.

“That includes conducting standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks,” he said.

Campbell did not confirm what kind of deployment would be made to support the maneuvers, saying he had no “comments about either the nature of our crossings or the timings across the Taiwan Strait.”

Taiwan’s foreign ministry thanked the US for its “firm support” in a statement on Saturday that pointed to Washington’s “concrete action to maintain security in the Taiwan Strait and peace in the region.”

Criticizing China’s decision to halt cooperation with Washington on issues that include the fight against climate change, Campbell said “we have and will continue to keep lines of communication open with Beijing.”

The official noted that Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping had asked staff to arrange an in-person summit, but he declined to comment on reports that this could take place during the Group of 20 meeting in the Indonesian resort island of Bali in November.

“We don’t have anything further in terms of details on time or location,” he said.

Asia And Oceania

en-ph

2022-08-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://manilatimes.pressreader.com/article/281900186991217

The Manila Times