The US’ and China’s top defense officials yesterday held talks on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Cambodia to discuss strained bilateral relations, and regional and global security issues.
It was the second face-to-face meeting in six months between US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chinese Minister of National Defense General Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和).
Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said that Austin assured Wei of US President Joe Biden’s commitment to the “one China” policy.
Photo: AFP
Austin “underscored his opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo” in the Taiwan Strait and called on China to refrain from destabilizing actions toward Taiwan, Ryder said in a statement.
He also urged continuing talks on “reducing strategic risk, improving crisis communications, and enhancing operational safety,” noting concerns about “dangerous behavior” by Chinese military aircraft “that increases the risk of an accident,” Ryder said.
At a news conference, Chinese defense ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Tan Kefei (譚克非) described the talks “as a concrete measure to implement the important consensus reached between [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping, 習近平] and Biden.”
The meeting was “of great significance” for bringing China-US relations “back to the track of healthy and stable development,” Tan said.
However, a statement issued by the ministry quoted Wei as saying: “The responsibility for the current situation facing China-US relations is on the US side, not on the Chinese side.”
Wei said the issue of Taiwan was a “red line” over which China would brook no foreign interference.
China’s military “has the backbone, the determination, the confidence and the ability to resolutely safeguard the unity of the motherland,” Wei said.
The ministry’s statement said that the two officials also exchanged views on the South China Sea, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, without giving details.
The US statement said that Austin discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine, and noted that Washington and Beijing “oppose the use of nuclear weapons or threats to use them.”
The meeting came just over a week after a meeting in Indonesia between Biden and Xi, which was widely seen as an effort to ease tensions between the two superpowers over trade and China’s actions in the Taiwan Strait.
Austin and Wei were in Siem Reap, Cambodia, attending a meeting of APEC and other defense ministers.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
RSS