Taiwan Strait

Blinken Meets China’s Xi Jinping in Beijing Visit

US officials hope Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China will lower tensions with Beijing. In what was seen as a special gesture, announced at the last minute, the top US diplomat met China’s head of state.

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for talks in Beijing on Monday, the culmination of two days of high-level talks with Chinese officials.

The trip marks the highest-level visit by a US official to China in nearly five years, at a time when relations between the world’s two largest economies have entered choppy waters.

What we know about the meeting

Xi told Blinken he hoped the visit would help smooth relations.

“The two sides have had candid and in-depth discussions,” Xi said at the start of the meeting in comments broadcast on Chinese state television.

“I hope that through this visit, Mr. Secretary, you will make more positive contributions to stabilising China-US relations,” Xi added, addressing Blinken.

“State-to-state interaction should always be based on mutual respect and sincerity,” Xi said.

A Blinken-Xi meeting had been on the cards, but neither side had confirmed it would happen until about an hour before the talks. The US state secretary’s discussion with the Chinese leader was seen as key to the success of the trip.

A snub here would have been a setback to the effort to restore talks at senior levels.

Meanwhile, Germany’s president on Monday underlined the “special importance” of relations between the US and China, as he hosted Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang for talks in Berlin.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for the “strengthening of communication channels between both countries,” saying that the economic giants’ ties were crucial for “global security and cooperation.”

Blinken meets with Wang

Blinken had earlier held talks with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday, the second and final day of his visit to China.

At the meeting with Wang, which lasted for around three hours, the Chinese diplomat told Blinken that the root cause of the worsening relations was Washington’s incorrect perception of China.

“We must take a responsible attitude toward the people, history and the world, and reverse the downward spiral of US-China relations,” Wang said, according to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Blinken’s visit has been marked with critical meetings with senior Chinese officials as the two sides expressed willingness to talk.

The two officials shook hands at the Diaoyutai state guest house in Beijing. Neither Blinken nor Wang made any comments to reporters as they greeted each other before sitting for their discussion.

Wang, whose position in the Communist Party ranks above the foreign minister, told Blinken that there is “no room for compromise” and concessions on the Taiwan issue, state media reported. He emphasized that maintaining national unity will always be at the core of China’s interests.

“The United States must truly adhere to the One China principle confirmed in the three joint US-China communiques, respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and clearly oppose ‘Taiwan independence’,” state media reported him saying.

“It is necessary to make a choice between dialogue and confrontation, cooperation or conflict,” Wang said.

Tense relations

Taking to Twitter, Blinken posted pictures of the meeting and said the discussions were “on a range of bilateral and global issues that affect people at home and around the world.”

Continuing important face to face diplomacy in Beijing, I met today with Central Foreign Affairs Office Director Wang Yi for discussions on a range of bilateral and global issues that affect people at home and around the world. pic.twitter.com/yXYcfU0Go1

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) June 19, 2023

Blinken was originally due to visit China in February, but the trip was postponed after the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over the country.

Meanwhile, tensions have continued to rise over Taiwan, the South China Sea and Russia’s war in Ukraine. The US and China have also stepped up their rivalry in the global semiconductor industry.

Blinken on Sunday met Foreign Minister Qin Gang for seven and a half hours, with both sides agreeing to keep communication lines open to avoid an all-out conflict.

This article was originally published on DW.

Angry China Stages More Drills Near Taiwan as US Lawmakers Visit

Five US lawmakers, led by Senator Ed Markey, arrived in Taipei on an unannounced visit late on Sunday, the second high-level group to visit following that of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier.

Beijing/Taipei: China’s military said it carried out more exercises near Taiwan on Monday as a group of US lawmakers visited the Chinese-claimed island and met President Tsai Ing-wen, who said her government was committed to maintaining stability.

The five US lawmakers, led by Senator Ed Markey, arrived in Taipei on an unannounced visit late on Sunday, the second high-level group to visit following that of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August, which set off several days of Chinese war games.

The Chinese military unit responsible for the area adjacent to Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command, said it had organised multi-service joint combat readiness patrols and combat drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan on Monday.

The exercises were “a stern deterrent to the United States and Taiwan continuing to play political tricks and undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”, it added.

China’s defence ministry said in a separate statement that the lawmakers’ trip infringed on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and “fully exposes the true face of the United States as a spoiler and spoiler of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.

“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army continues to train and prepare for war, resolutely defends national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will resolutely crush any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatism and foreign interference.”

The theatre command said the exercises took place near Taiwan’s Penghu islands, which are in the Taiwan Strait and are home to a major air base, and showed close up video of the islands taken by a Chinese air force aircraft.

Tsai, meeting the lawmakers in her office, said China’s exercises had greatly affected regional peace and stability.

Also read: Don’t ‘Play With Fire’ Over Taiwan, China’s Xi Jinping Warns in Call With US President Biden

“We are engaging in close cooperation with international allies to closely monitor the military situation. At the same time we are doing everything we can to let the world know that Taiwan is determined to safeguard stability and the status quo in the Taiwan Strait,” she said, in video footage provided by the presidential office.

Markey told Tsai that “we have a moral obligation” to do everything to prevent an unnecessary conflict.

“Taiwan has demonstrated incredible restraint and discretion during challenging times,” he added.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said 15 Chinese aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Monday, an unofficial barrier between the two, adding it condemned China’s new drills and would “calmly” face them.

Low key

Pelosi’s visit infuriated China, which responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, and ditching some lines of dialogue with Washington, including theatre military talks and on climate change.

Also read: Nancy Pelosi Lands in Taiwan; ‘Consequences Must Be Borne by the US,’ Warns China

However, this trip was much more low-key than Pelosi’s, with Tsai’s meeting with the lawmakers not carried live on her social media pages, which is the general practice when high-level foreign guests come.

FILE PHOTO:Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry Department of North American Affairs Director-General Douglas Hsu welcomes U.S. Representatives Alan Lowenthal, John Garamendi, Don Beyer and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen at Taipei Songshan Airport in Taipei, Taiwan in this handout image released August 14, 2022. Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Handout via REUTERS.

The group left Taiwan late on Monday afternoon, and only after then did the presidential office release footage of the meeting with Tsai.

It was not immediately clear where they were going.

The de facto US embassy in Taipei said they had also met foreign minister Joseph Wu and members of Taiwan’s parliament’s foreign affairs and defence committee.

“Authoritarian China can’t dictate how democratic Taiwan makes friends,” Wu said on Twitter of their meeting.

The United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to provide the democratically governed island with the means to defend itself.

China has never ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan’s government says the People’s Republic of China has never ruled the island and so has no right to claim it, and that only its 23 million people can decide their future.

Taiwan premier Su Tseng-chang said they would not be deterred by China’s response to such visits by foreign friends.

“We can’t just do nothing because there is an evil neighbour next door, and not dare to let visitors or friends come,” he told reporters.

(Reuters)

After Drills in Taiwan, China to Impose Sanctions on Nancy Pelosi Over Island Visit

China also announced on Friday that more than 100 warplanes and 10 warships had taken part in live-fire military drills surrounding Taiwan over the past two days.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Pelosi was “seriously interfering in China’s internal affairs and seriously undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” with her visit to Taiwan this week.

Beijing said Pelosi had disregarded China’s concerns and resolute opposition to her visit to the self-ruled island, which China claims as its own.

The ministry said China would “impose sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family,” without giving further details.

The Chinese Communist Party says that self-ruled, democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has promised to one day take it, if necessary by force. As such, Beijing objects to foreign governments having engaging with Taiwan.

China also said it was canceling or suspending dialogue with the US on a range of issues — from climate change to military relations and anti-drug efforts — in retaliation for Pelosi’s trip.

China flexes muscles in response

The government in Beijing has reacted with threats and military drills before and after Pelosi’s visit — a trip it views as unacceptable because it escalates ties between Washington and Taipei.

Also read: US Criticises China for ‘Provocative’ and ‘Irresponsible’ Military Drills

China also announced on Friday that more than 100 warplanes and 10 warships had taken part in live-fire military drills surrounding Taiwan over the past two days.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Friday that fighters, bombers, destroyers and frigates were all involved.

Currently in Japan, Pelosi said on Friday that the US would “not allow” China to isolate Taiwan.

This article first appeared on DW. Read the original here.

US Criticises China for ‘Provocative’ and ‘Irresponsible’ Military Drills

The United States has condemned China’s “provocative” military drills around Taiwan and described it as an “irresponsible” action that is at odds with the longstanding goal of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region.

Washington: The United States has condemned China’s “provocative” military drills around Taiwan and described it as an “irresponsible” action that is at odds with the longstanding goal of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region.

The Chinese military on Thursday launched a four-day war game and held “precision missile strikes” in the Taiwan Strait in retaliation to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s landmark visit to Taipei disregarding Beijing’s stern warning to Washington against supporting “Taiwan independence”.

Also Read: Nancy Pelosi Calls Taiwan ‘One of the Freest Societies’, China Holds Military Drills

China views Taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it and has long vowed to reunify the island with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary.

Overnight, the People’s Republic of China launched an estimated 11 ballistic missiles towards Taiwan, which impacted to the northeast, the east, and southeast of the island,” John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, told reporters here on Thursday.

“We condemn these actions, which are irresponsible and at odds with our longstanding goal of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region, he said.

Also Read: China Warns Its Military Will ‘Not Sit Idly By’ if Nancy Pelosi Visits Taiwan

China has chosen to overreact and use the visit of Pelosi as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait, Kirby said.

The United States, he noted, had anticipated that China might take steps like these.

We also expect that these actions will continue and that the Chinese will continue to react in the coming days. The United States is prepared for what Beijing chooses to do. We will not seek, nor do we want, a crisis, Kirby said.

At the same time, the United States, he said, will not be deterred from operating in the seas and the skies of the Western Pacific, consistent with international law, as the US has been supporting Taiwan and defending a free and open Indo-Pacific for decades.

Also Read: Nancy Pelosi Lands in Taiwan; ‘Consequences Must Be Borne by the US,’ Warns China

To that end, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday directed that the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the ships in her strike group will remain on station in the general area to monitor the situation, Kirby said.

The US will conduct standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks, consistent, again, with its longstanding approach to defend freedom of the seas and international law. Beijing’s provocative actions, Kirby noted, are a significant escalation in its longstanding attempt to change the status quo.

As just one example, over the past two years China has more than doubled the number of aircraft that they have flown over the centre line that separates China and Taiwan as compared to the time period between 2016-2020, he said.

Beijing has pursued economic coercion, political interference, and cyberattacks against Taiwan, all of which erode the cross-Strait status quo.

The US, Kirby said, will be resolute but also steady and responsible. We do not believe it is in our interest, Taiwan’s interest, the region’s interest to allow tensions to escalate further, which is why a long-planned Minuteman III ICBM test scheduled for this week has been rescheduled for the near future, he said.

Also Read: China Fires Missiles Near Taiwan in Drills After Pelosi Visit

As China engages in destabilising military exercises around Taiwan, the United States is demonstrating instead the behaviour of a responsible nuclear power by reducing the risks of miscalculation and misperception, Kirby said.

The US will continue to demonstrate transparency in its ballistic missile tests through timely notifications. That’s a practice that China has often rejected, he alleged.

Rescheduling this test will not in any way impact the modernisation, the readiness, or the reliability of America’s safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent. And the test will happen. It will be rescheduled for the near future, Kirby said.

In a joint statement, Senators Jim Risch and Bob Menendez, ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that China’s dangerous and provocative live-fire exercises around Taiwan are yet another chapter in Beijing’s unrelenting efforts to bully and coerce Taipei, and to upend cross-Strait peace and stability by changing the status quo with Taiwan.

The extensive drills – which essentially represent a blockade – create immense risks for passengers in civilian airlines and ships on the high seas, they said.

To be clear, Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan provides no justification for this sort of measure. Beijing should not be under any false illusion that these military drills will lessen resolve in the United States or elsewhere, or erode our commitment to stand with the people of Taiwan and their right to determine their own future. Just the opposite, the two lawmakers said.

(PTI)

Taiwan President Calls for International Support to Defend Democracy

President Tsai Ing-wen comments came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping said nobody could change the fact that Taiwan was part of China, and that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should seek “reunification”.

Taipei: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called on Saturday for international support to defend the self-ruled island’s democracy and way of life in the face of renewed threats from China.

Tsai’s comments came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping said nobody could change the fact that Taiwan was part of China, and that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should seek “reunification”.

“We hope that the international community takes it seriously and can voice support and help us,” Tsai told reporters in Taipei, referring to threats by China to use force to bring Taiwan under its control.

If the international community did not support a democratic country that was under threat, “we might have to ask which country might be next,?” Tsai added.

Also Read: China Threatens Taiwan With Force but Also Seeks Peaceful ‘Reunification’

Taiwan is China’s most sensitive issue and is claimed by Beijing as its sacred territory. Xi has stepped up pressure on the democratic island since Tsai from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party became president in 2016.

President Xi said on Wednesday that China reserves the right to use force to bring Taiwan under its control but will strive to achieve peaceful “reunification” with the island.

In response, Tsai has said the island would not accept a “one country, two systems” political arrangement with China, while stressing all cross-Strait negotiations needed to be carried out on a government-to-government basis.

Tsai on Saturday also urged China to have a “correct understanding” of what Taiwanese think and said actions such as political bullying were unhelpful in cross-strait relations.

(Reuters)

China Says Does Not Need Taiwan’s Permission to Open New Air Route

Beijing has taken an increasingly hostile stance towards Taipei since the election two years ago of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.

An aircraft flies over an apartment for migrant workers at Picun village on the outskirts of Beijing, China, November 28, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Jason Lee/Files

Beijing: The Chinese government said on Wednesday that it does not need Taiwan’s permission to open new air routes, after Taipei complained that a new route over the narrow Taiwan Strait that separates the two was a security and safety risk.

Beijing has taken an increasingly hostile stance towards Taipei since the election two years ago of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.

Tsai said earlier this month the opening of the air route, which runs close to two groups of Taiwan-controlled island groups off the Chinese coast, was an irresponsible act that threatens regional security and affects aviation safety.

Taiwan says this month’s opening of the northbound M503 route in the Taiwan Strait was done without informing Taiwan, contravening what the democratic government in Taipei said is a 2015 deal to first discuss such flight paths.

Speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China‘s Taiwan Affairs Office, denied breaking the 2015 agreement and said Taiwan had been informed the route would be opening.

“But this does not mean that opening air routes needs Taiwan’s agreement,” Ma said.

There would be no impact upon aviation safety for Taiwan, Ma added, saying the route was needed to alleviate pressure on busy routes over southeastern China between Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The route was approved by the International Civil Aviation Organisation scientifically and professionally, he said.

“We should believe in science, and the International Civil Aviation Organisation,” Ma said.

Taiwan should have a correct view of this matter and stop looking for opportunities to make a fuss, he added.

China considers Taiwan a wayward province, and broke off official communication with the Taiwan government after Tsai took office in 2016.

China suspects Tsai wants to push for formal independence though, she has said she wants to maintain the status quo with China and is committed to ensuring peace.

China has in recent months stepped up its military drills around Taiwan, alarming Taipei. China says the exercises are routine, but that it will not tolerate any attempt by the island to declare independence.

(Reuters)

China Insists Taiwan Recognise ‘One China’ Principle

Tensions between China and Taiwan have risen since the new Taiwanese president took office last month.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen speaks to navy sailors after visiting the nation’s first domestically built stealth-missile 600-ton Tuo Jiang twin-hull corvette at Suao Naval Base in Yilan, Taiwan June 4, 2016. Credit: Reuters/Tyrone Siu

Beijing: The Chinese government said on June 25 it had stopped a communication mechanism with Taiwan because of the refusal of the self-ruled island’s new government to recognise the “one China” principle, in the latest show of tension between the two.

China, which regards Taiwan as a wayward province, is deeply suspicious of Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, who took office last month, as they suspect she will push for formal independence.

Tsai, who heads the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, says she wants to maintain the status quo with China and is committed to ensuring peace.

But China has insisted she recognise something called the “1992 consensus” reached between China’s Communists and Taiwan’s then-ruling Nationalists, under which both agreed there is only one China, with each having their own interpretation of what that means.

In a brief statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency, China’s Taiwan affairs office said that since May 20, when Tsai took office, Taiwan has not affirmed this consensus.

“Because the Taiwan side has not acknowledged the 1992 consensus, this joint political basis for showing the one China principle, the cross Taiwan Strait contact and communication mechanism has already stopped,” spokesman An Fengshan said.

The announcement came as Taiwan expressed anger at Cambodia’s deportation of 25 Taiwanese nationals wanted on fraud charges to China on June 24, ignoring attempts by Taiwanese officials to have them returned to the island.

Taipei has accused Beijing of kidnapping when other countries such as Kenya and Malaysia have deported Taiwanese to China, also in fraud cases.

Taiwan’s mainland affairs council said on June 24 it had expressed its concerns to the Taiwan affairs office about the Cambodia case using the communication system.

That system had been ushered in following a rapid improvement of ties under the rule of Taiwan’s then-president Ma Ying-jeou, who took office in 2008 and signed a series of landmark trade and tourism deals with China.

Tsai is currently on her first trip overseas as president, visiting diplomatic allies Panama and Paraguay, with transit stops both ways in the US.

Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan after a civil war with the Communists in 1949, which has never formally ended. China has also never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

(Reuters)

Taiwan’s New President Urges China to Drop Historical Baggage

Tsai Ing-wen pledged to abide by the constitution of the Republic of China, Taiwan’s formal name, and promised to safeguard the island’s sovereignty and territory.

Tsai Ing-wen pledged to abide by the constitution of the Republic of China, Taiwan‘s formal name, and promised to safeguard the island’s sovereignty and territory.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen waves during an inauguration ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan May 20, 2016. Credit: Reuters/Tyrone Siu

Taipei: Taiwan‘s new president urged China on May 20 to “drop the baggage of history” in an otherwise conciliatory inauguration speech that Beijing’s Communist Party rulers had been watching for any move towards independence.

President Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in with Taiwan‘s export-driven economy on the ropes and giant neighbour China looking across the Taiwan Strait for signs of creeping independence or anti-Beijing sentiment that could further sour the economic ties.

Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has traditionally favoured independence from China, won parliamentary and presidential elections by a landslide in January and takes over after eight years under China-friendly Nationalist Ma Ying-jeou.

Tsai, Taiwan‘s first female president, said Taiwan would play a responsible role and be a “staunch guardian of peace” in its relationship with China. “Cross-Strait relations have become an integral part of building regional peace and collective security,” she told thousands of people outside the presidential office.

“The two governing parties across the Strait must set aside the baggage of history and engage in positive dialogue for the benefit of the people on both sides,” she said.

There was no immediate reaction to Tsai’s speech from China, which has never renounced force to take back an island it regards as a renegade province. Beijing said earlier this month, the new Taiwan government would be to blame for any crisis that might erupt.

Taiwanese markets reacted calmly to Tsai’s inauguration. Taiwan‘s main index reached an intraday high as she spoke, before settling 0.4% higher for the session.

Tsai pledged to abide by the constitution of the Republic of China, Taiwan‘s formal name, and promised to safeguard the island’s sovereignty and territory. She also mentioned the East China and South China Seas, where an increasingly muscular China has been at odds over territorial claims with its neighbours.

“Regarding problems arising in the East China Sea and South China Sea, we propose setting aside disputes so as to enable joint development,” she said.

The American Institute in Taiwan, which represents US interests in the island in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, said it looked forward to working with the new government.

The US switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979 but is alsoTaiwan‘s biggest ally and arms supplier.

China is deeply distrustful of Tsai’s DPP, whose charter includes a clause promoting “a sovereign and independent Republic of Taiwan“. Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to Taiwan after losing the civil war to the Communists in China in 1949. China has pressured the new Taiwan government to stick to the “one-China” principle agreed with the Nationalists. That allows each side to interpret what “one China” means.

Voted in by a Taiwanese public distrustful of growing economic dependence on China, the DPP also champions Taiwan’s own history. There were massive protests in 2014 that stalled a trade pact with China and were a key element of the DPP’s rise.

(Reuters)