The White House on Monday called Beijing’s military drills near Taiwan this week “provocative,” saying it would continue to help Taipei defend itself.
The US is worried about the Chinese activity, “which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability,” the US National Security Council said in a statement. “We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability in line with our longstanding commitments and consistent with our one China policy.”
While the Taiwan issue continues to be a source of tension between China and the US, it does not appear to be derailing recent efforts by the two sides to improve ties.
Photo: AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is still scheduled to visit Beijing early next year to follow up on a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia last month.
Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang (秦剛) hinted at the durability of relations in a commentary in The National Interest magazine on Monday.
“The differences between China and the United States — in history, culture, social system and development path — will most probably remain in 100 years, but as residents of the same world, we should and can listen to each other, narrow our gap in perceptions of the world, and explore a way to get along based on mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation,” wrote Qin, a top contender to become China’s next minister of foreign affairs.
Earlier this week, China held its largest military drills near Taiwan since exercises that followed a trip to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August.
In the 24 hours to early Monday, China sent 71 warplanes toward the nation — 47 of them either across the median line in the Taiwan Strait or into Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone.
Also yesterday, Jiji news reported that the Japanese Ministry of Defense would deploy a surface-to-air missile defense unit on Yonaguni Island, Japan’s westernmost island that is about 110 kilometers from Taiwan, as China is boosting its military pressure on Taiwan.
The instalment of missile troops is part of a plan to expand a Ground Self-Defense Force camp on the island, part of Okinawa Prefecture, to reinforce defense of Japan’s southwestern islands, Jiji quoted the Japanese ministry’s spokesman, Takeshi Aoki, as saying.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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