US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday told his Chinese counterpart that the US opposes actions by China that have increased tensions across the Taiwan Strait, a senior US Department of State official said.
During the hour-long meeting with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Rome, Blinken made “crystal clear” that Washington opposes any unilateral changes by Beijing to the “status quo” there, the official said.
An increase in Chinese military exercises in Taiwan’s air defence identification zone in the past few months are part of what Taiwan views as stepped-up military harassment by Beijing.
Photo: AP
The US wants to manage the intense competition between the world’s two largest economies responsibly, the state department official said, adding that both sides acknowledged that open lines of communication are paramount.
While the US, like most countries, has no formal ties with Taiwan, Washington is the nation’s most important international backer and main arms supplier, and is required by law to provide it with the means to defend itself.
Washington has long followed a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, although US President Joe Biden last week said that the US would come to Taiwan’s defense if necessary.
Blinken made clear that Washington had not changed its “one China” policy regarding Taiwan, the official said.
He and Wang did not discuss a recent Chinese hypersonic weapons test that military experts say appears to show Beijing’s pursuit of an Earth-orbiting system designed to evade US missile defenses, the official said.
Separately, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Saturday called for mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccines based on the WHO’s emergency use list, according to a transcript of his remarks published by China’s Xinhua news agency.
Speaking to the G20 Leaders’ Summit via video link, Xi said that China had provided more than 1.6 billion COVID-19 shots to the world, and was working with 16 nations to cooperate on manufacturing doses.
“China is willing to work with all parties to improve the accessibility and affordability of COVID-19 vaccines in developing countries,” Xi said.
Xi reiterated China’s support of the WTO making an early decision on waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, and he called for vaccine companies to be encouraged to transfer technology to developing countries.
Two Chinese vaccines have been included in the WHO’s emergency use list.
Xi also called for policies to maintain global economic and financial stability, saying that China would strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination and maintain policy continuity, stability and sustainability.
“Major economies should adopt responsible macroeconomic policies to avoid negative spillover effects to developing countries and maintain the steady operation of the international economic and financial system,” he said.
Xi’s statement came as G20 leaders endorsed a global minimum tax on corporations, a linchpin of new international tax rules aimed at blunting the edge of tax havens amid skyrocketing profits of some multinational businesses.
The move was hailed by US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen as benefiting US businesses and workers.
G20 finance ministers in July agreed on a 15 percent minimum tax, which the leaders’ summit formally endorsed.
Additional reporting by AP
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS