US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stressed the importance of stability in the Taiwan Strait, while a senior Chinese military official warned the US to stop “collusion” with Taiwan in a rare one-on-one meeting yesterday, both sides said.
Sullivan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, the first US national security adviser to visit China since 2016, for three days of talks with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) and other high-ranking officials.
Yesterday morning, Sullivan met with Zhang Youxia (張又俠), vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and China’s second-highest-ranking military official, at the Beijing headquarters of the commission.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s rare that we have the opportunity to have this kind of exchange,” Sullivan told Zhang in opening remarks.
The two officials agreed to hold a call between the two sides’ theater commanders “in the near future,” a readout from the White House added.
Sullivan also raised the importance of stability in the Taiwan Strait and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where Beijing and Manila have clashed over the past few months, Washington said.
Zhang said that the status of Taiwan was “the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations.”
“China has always been committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” he said, according to a readout by the Chinese Ministry of National Defense.
“But Taiwan independence and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are incompatible,” he said.
“China demands that the US halts military collusion with Taiwan, ceases arming Taiwan and stops spreading false narratives related to Taiwan,” Zhang added.
Yesterday’s talks also saw Sullivan express “concerns about [Chinese] support for Russia’s defense industrial base,” the White House readout added.
He also raised “the need to avoid miscalculation and escalation in cyberspace, and ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza,” the White House said.
Later yesterday, Sullivan met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Their meeting touched on the issues of Taiwan, the two nations’ leaders future meetings, US citizens detained in China, and the clashes between the Chinese and Philippine coast guards in the South China Sea.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it welcomes “staunch US support” for maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
“In addition, MOFA notes that China again made spurious claims about Taiwan that do not accord with reality in the press release issued following the meeting,” it said in a statement, reiterating that Taiwan and China are not subordinate to each other.
China’s “naked ambition for military expansion” poses the greatest risk to the region, and its accommodation of Russia “shows that China’s ambitions extend beyond Taiwan to other regions, making it a major global threat,” the ministry said.
On Wednesday, Sullivan and Wang discussed plans for their leaders to talk in the coming weeks and clashed over China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions.
Sullivan “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to defending its Indo-Pacific allies,” the White House said.
He also “expressed concern about [China’s] destabilizing actions against lawful Philippine maritime operations” in the South China Sea, it said.
Chinese state media reported that Wang issued his own warning to Washington.
“The United States must not use bilateral treaties as an excuse to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, nor should it support or condone the Philippines’ actions of infringement,” Wang told Sullivan, according to state broadcaster China Central Television.
Wang and Sullivan previously met five times over the past year and a half — in Washington, Vienna, Malta and Bangkok, as well as alongside US President Joe Biden and Xi in Woodside, California, in November last year.
During their previous encounters, they also discussed Taiwan.
Additional reporting by AP and Kayleigh Madjar
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS