The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region.
The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait.
US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday.
Photo: AP
Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the one issued on Wednesday and another in April 2022.
In 2021, both sides reaffirmed cooperation with Taiwan while adhering to their respective “one China” policies.
After the policy was omitted in a statement released in April 2022, it was mentioned in December of that year, affirming unchanged positions.
In the latest statement, the US and EU emphasized the need for peace in the Taiwan Strait, rejecting unilateral changes to the “status quo,” particularly through force.
The US and EU stressed the importance of maintaining open communication with China while engaging in fair competition and pursuing diplomacy on common interests and disagreements.
They expressed concern over China’s support for Russia in its war in Ukraine and urged Beijing to uphold international law, stressing that any peace plan must respect sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The two sides also addressed China’s human rights abuses, particularly in Tibet and Xinjiang, and called for cooperation with the UN human rights office.
They pledged to counter China’s transnational repression and raised concerns over the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Condemning China’s actions in the East and South China seas, the US and the EU cited the importance of freedom of navigation and the peaceful resolution of disputes, especially regarding the Philippines.
They reaffirmed the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling at The Hague in favor of the Philippines and against China as binding.
The statement highlighted continued US-EU cooperation on Indo-Pacific security, including joint maritime operations and a roundtable to be held at the US Indo-Pacific Command.
Both sides also reaffirmed the importance of having balanced and fair economic relations with China, and vowed to continue addressing challenges brought by China’s non-market policies and practices.
The US and EU intend to continue derisking by reducing dependencies and vulnerabilities in strategic sectors, the statement said.
Foreign information manipulation is also a continued threat that requires further work with Indo-Pacific partners to build free and resilient information ecosystems, it added.
The next dialogue is to be hosted in Washington next year.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS