The AUKUS partnership would help promote cross-strait peace and stability, said US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who earlier on Wednesday discussed China with European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino.
Campbell and Sannino in a telephone call “discussed the challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China,” US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
The two agreed on “the need to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Miller said.
Photo: Reuters
It was the second time Campbell mentioned the situation in the Taiwan Strait on the same day, following a conversation he had with Washington-based think tank the Center for a New American Security to discuss the AUKUS security partnership between the US, the UK and Australia.
As a key part of the AUKUS agreement, the US and the UK plan to supply Australia with a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines in an effort to counter China’s aggression in the region.
The cooperation would bring additional capacity to “help strengthen deterrence” and it would “have enormous implications in a variety of scenarios, including cross-strait circumstances,” Campbell said.
The remark was “a rare linkage between Taiwan and AUKUS” from the three governments, which have been reluctant to publicly tie AUKUS to growing tensions over Taiwan, Reuters reported yesterday.
Separately, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) in an interview with Danish daily Berlingske published on Wednesday urged Denmark to respect the desires of people who want to be known as Taiwanese.
The newspaper last month reported that at least 10 Taiwanese reported being listed as citizens of “China” instead of “Taiwan” on their residence cards issued by Danish authorities.
The Danish Agency for International Recruitment, which is in charge of the issuance of the cards, said that changing the country of origin for Taiwanese to “China” was a correction of a “regrettable mistake.”
The will of Taiwanese should be respected, Wu said, adding that Taiwan and China do not belong to each other, a fact that is widely recognized by countries around the world.
As democracies worldwide are fighting against the expansion of authoritarianism, Denmark should be a democratic model and not equate democratic Taiwan with authoritarian China, he said.
Viewing Taiwan as a part of China would help Beijing justify its ambition to launch military operations against the nation, he said.
An annual report on the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy adopted by the European Parliament in February states that Chinese territorial claims over Taiwan “have no basis in international law,” Wu said.
Taiwanese greatly admire the support of Denmark and other EU members to Ukraine and hope they could in the same manner support Taiwan’s fight against authoritarian aggression, he said.
Chinese expansionism poses a threat to global peace and stability, and must not be appeased, he said, adding that appeasement would not bring peace.
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