US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday accused China of undermining a decades-old “status quo” that has kept Washington and Beijing from going to war over Taiwan, saying China was trying to “speed up” its seizure of the nation.
“What’s changed is this — a decision by the government in Beijing that that status quo was no longer acceptable, that they wanted to speed up the process by which they would pursue reunification,” Blinken said in an interview at Bloomberg’s offices in Washington.
“They also, I think, made decisions about how they would do that, including exerting more pressure on Taiwan, coercion — making life difficult in a variety of ways on Taiwan in the hopes that that would speed reunification,” he said.
Photo: AP
The latest comments from the top US diplomat rebuking China over Taiwan expand on Blinken’s statements from last week that China might seize Taiwan on a “much faster timeline” than previously thought.
Blinken’s latest criticism, part of a broader war of words between Washington and Beijing, also came shortly after Beijing wrapped up its twice-a-decade Chinese Communist Party congress, which saw Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) consolidate his power.
Taiwan remains the key flash point and the most likely source of conflict between the US and China. Tensions over the nation spiked dramatically when US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi defied Beijing’s warnings and visited Taipei in August.
Blinken said the US and China were now clearly engaged in a global competition to shape international affairs, with Beijing pushing back against the US to champion an “illiberal” world order.
“We don’t look for conflict. We don’t want a cold war. We’re not trying to contain or restrain China,” Blinken said. “But equally, we’re resolute in standing up for our interests, standing up for our values. And again, when it comes to Taiwan, standing up for the proposition that’s held for decades, that these differences need to be managed and resolved peacefully.”
In Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) slammed China for conducting military drills in Taiwan’s airspace and waters around the nation since August, saying that the drills raised cross-strait tensions without any provocation.
The US government has issued multiple joint statements with like-minded countries to show its concern for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, she said, adding that Taiwan is to continue strengthening its self-defense capabilities, the security partnership with the US, and cooperation with Japan and other like-minded partners to defend the country’s sovereignty, democratic way of life, peace and an international order based on shared values.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said the government is “steadfast in the defense of national sovereignty, freedom and democracy without any room for compromise.”
The government insists on a free and democratic constitutional order, a mutually non-subordinate relationship with China, sovereignty and determining the future of the country with Taiwanese representing the social consensus in the nation, he said, adding that there can be no compromises on the four issues.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
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
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘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