China has been “busy” changing the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait through moves including imposing military threats against Taiwan, poaching the nation’s diplomatic allies and raising pressure to cut its international space, a US Department of State official said on Friday.
The primary desire of the US is to see a strong commitment to maintaining the “status quo,” US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Patrick Murphy said in an interview with Voice of America.
“China has been busy changing the ‘status quo’ on this arrangement that has produced prosperity, stability and peace, even with some of the unusual aspects,” Murphy said in Hawaii, en route to Thailand and Indonesia.
“What I mean by changing the ‘status quo’ is we have heard voices in Beijing threaten the use of violence directed at Taiwan; we have seen China aggressively try to reduce the number of diplomatic partners that Taiwan enjoys around the world,” he said.
To intimidate Taiwan, China has stepped up military threats through various aggressive and provocative actions, such as the dispatching of warships, bombers and fighter jets to encircle Taiwan and conducting live-fire military exercises near Taiwan’s waters.
In a January speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) said that China makes no promise to give up the use of force and reserves the option of taking all necessary means against pro-Taiwanese independence “separatists.”
Under the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Beijing largely refrained from poaching Taiwan’s allies or carrying out military maneuvers near its waters.
Since taking office in May 2016, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party has refused to accept the so-called “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 that refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
As a result of the Tsai administration’s refusal to accept the “1992 consensus,” Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan.
Under Tsai, Taiwan has lost five diplomatic allies — Sao Tome and Principe; Panama; the Dominican Republic; Burkina Faso; and El Salvador — which are believed to have been lured away by financial incentives from China.
China’s pressure to shrink Taiwan’s international space has left the nation with only 17 diplomatic allies.
“China has been busy trying to crop Taiwan out of the international space and international organizations where Taiwan has made important contributions to public health, civil aviation and many more global concerns that affect all around the world,” Murphy said.
Earlier commitment to maintaining the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait “brought peace, stability and prosperity for all concerned,” he said.
The US continues to recognize the “one China” policy, which has been firmly based on important historical documents such as the Three Joint Communiques negotiated with China in 1972, 1978 and 1982, and the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), he added.
The TRA was enacted in 1979 after Washington severed ties with Taipei, with the aim of defining future unofficial relations between Taiwan and the US.
“This framework has served us, Taiwan and China well for the past 40 years now,” Murphy said.
Commenting on Washington’s arms sales to Taipei, Murphy said that under the framework, there is precedent.
“And it’s a matter of policy in the United States that Taiwan’s defensive needs are merited, so the United States has been a helpful partner in that regard,” he said.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS