Top US and Chinese officials were to discuss arms sales to Taiwan at separate meetings in Washington and Beijing yesterday, sources said.
In Washington, Wang Yi (王毅), the director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, was scheduled to meet with State Department officials, while in Beijing, US Defense Undersecretary for Policy Michele Flournoy was to head a US delegation in talks with Chinese officials, including People’s Liberation Army deputy chief of staff Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian (馬嘯天).
Taiwan’s National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) is believed to have been briefed on the situation during a low-profile visit to Washington late last month.
However, US officials were reluctant to say anything on Monday about the substance or significance of the meetings.
Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Ian Kelly was asked who would be meeting with Wang and what would be on the agenda.
He said: “You know, I’m not sure. So, if we can get you information, I will get you information.”
Pressed by reporters at the routine daily briefing about “new developments across the Taiwan Strait” he said: “Well, we are — we are very supportive of a lessening of tensions across the strait. And we would — we would welcome further such developments.”
Other well-placed Washington sources confirmed that future arms sales to Taiwan were on the agenda for the meeting with Wang.
Meanwhile, reports from Beijing indicated that Flournoy’s meetings would constitute the 10th annual round of defense consultations on building closer military ties and would mark the resumption of military exchanges between the two countries.
The Chinese Defense Ministry announced in a news release that the two sides would talk about “bilateral military relations, Taiwan issues, international and regional security issues and other issues of common concern.”
The release added: “China attaches great importance to this round of consultative talks and hopes to make concerted efforts with the United States to ensure positive results from the talks.”
Pentagon sources would not confirm that the two sets of meetings were linked, even though they would be going on at the same time.
But a well-connected academic at a Washington-based think tank said, “You would be right in thinking that this is not a coincidence.”
The financial news service Bloomberg reported that Flournoy’s delegation aims to win a resumption of high-level visits by Chinese military officials to Washington, increased cooperation and more open discussion of China’s military buildup.
“The US has expressed concern for years that China is building up its military strength near Taiwan and asserting maritime rights with moves such as harassing the US Navy vessel Impeccable in March. China’s defense spending has increased by more than 16 percent a year for the past decade, according to Chinese government figures,” Bloomberg reported.
Other sources said that aside from Taiwan issues, the Beijing meeting would concentrate on the North Korea nuclear crisis and the North Korean cargo ship Kang Nam, which is being shadowed by the US Navy and is believed to be carrying missiles and related parts to Myanmar in violation of UN sanctions.
Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity said that at both the Washington and Beijing meetings the possible future US sale to Taiwan of F-16 fighter planes, helicopters and diesel submarine technology would be on the agenda.
During his visit to Washington last month, Su discussed cross-strait relations with high-level officials in the administration of US President Barack Obama, including Jeffery Bader, senior director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BLOOMBERG
‘HIDDEN GEM’: The city earned plaudits for its low crime rate, world-class healthcare system, cheap cost of living and easy public transportation Taipei has been named the 10th best city in the world for quality of living in an annual survey by the editors of Monocle, a UK-based global affairs and lifestyle magazine. The survey, which is to be published in the magazine’s July/August issue, selected the world’s top 25 cities based on factors including cost of living, retail, hospitality, culture and access to green spaces, as well as feedback from Monocle correspondents. Taipei’s 10th place finish was one place down from a year earlier. The survey ranked Copenhagen as the world’s best city, with Zurich, Lisbon, Helsinki and Stockholm rounding out the top five.
GLOBAL STRATEGY: Indo-Pacific alliances need reinforcement to prevent Chinese occupation of Taiwan, which would threaten Japan, Hawaii and Australia, Pompeo said The US should officially recognize Taiwan as a free, independent nation and establish official diplomatic ties, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo told an event at the Hudson Institute in Washington on Friday. Every US president since Harry Truman has considered Taiwan’s existence to be of utmost importance to US national security, Pompeo said. Taiwan is a principal US partner in technology and economic matters, and if China were to capture Taiwan’s semiconductor supply chain, it would severely hamper the US economy, Pompeo said. Should China occupy Taiwan, it would severely weaken US influence in the Indo-Pacific region and its surrounding areas,
NO COMORBIDITIES: The girl died of encephalitis, the sixth COVID-19-related death of the disease this year and 19th death of a child from the virus, the center said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 52,213 new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases and 171 deaths from the virus, including a four-year-old girl, who had been diagnosed with encephalitis, and a 19-year-old man, who had underlying health conditions. “The caseloads are usually higher on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but they [yesterday] fell 7.3 percent from the day before,” Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said. Chuang, who is the CECC’s spokesman, said that most cities and counties reported a drop in new cases, and the CECC expects fewer than 50,000 new cases today. The center said that 150 of
LIMIT: The CECC has capped the number of weekly arrivals to 25,000, which critics said has limited the number of available flights and caused ticket prices to soar The government is not likely to raise the cap on the number of inbound travelers before the end of this month, despite the apparent effect on the number of inbound flights, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Wednesday last week eased quarantine rules for inbound travelers, who must undergo three days of home quarantine upon arrival and spend another four days in self-initiated disease prevention. It also capped the number of inbound travelers to 25,000 per week. The weekly limit has drawn criticism that it has limited the number of flights
RSS