Washington has an abiding interest in continued peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, US Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Thursday in Beijing.
During a trip to China, Blinken met with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), and reiterated “the United States’ abiding interest in continued cross-strait peace and stability,” according to a statement issued by the US Department of State.
Blinken’s trip to Beijing followed a visit to Taiwan by former US deputy secretary of state William Burns on Sunday last week, one day after the nation elected its next president and legislature.
Burns met with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九); president-elect Tsai Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is also chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party; and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who resigned as chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) after he lost in the presidential election.
Burns was sent to Taiwan to carry Washington’s message of hope for continued peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
While in Beijing, Blinken also met with Chinese officials for the second round of the Interim Strategic Security Dialogue.
The talks were cochaired by Blinken and Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Yesui (張業遂), and covered topics including issues of mutual interest, such as the response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test and maritime issues, the US Department of State said.
“The dialogue is designed to enhance mutual understanding of strategic security issues and reiterate the importance of continued in-depth, sustained and open communication, to further develop a stable and cooperative strategic security relationship between China and the United States,” it said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
Singapore is to allow imports of Taiwanese raw pork for the first time in 15 years, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday. The Singapore Food Agency has approved imports of fresh pork produced by New Taipei City-based Cha I Shan Foods, which had obtained a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification from the ministry to export to Singapore, it said. The ministry said it had hoped Singapore would permit Taiwanese fresh pork imports in addition to processed pork products. Singapore agreed to accept Taiwanese fresh pork after completing a document review and a virtual tour of Cha I Shan Foods’ packing
‘FACT-BASED’: There is no ban, and 2 million Taiwanese have traveled to China this year, which is more than the 285,000 Chinese who visited Taiwan, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday accused China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of shifting the blame for Beijing’s tourism ban on Taiwan, continuing a war of words that started in the past week. The council’s remark came hours after its Chinese counterpart on Friday accused the government of creating barriers to the resumption of reciprocal group tours across the Taiwan Strait. The TAO accused the MAC of releasing untruthful information and dragging its feet on the tourism sector’s call to establishing ferries linking Pingtung County to China’s Pingtan Island. The MAC failed to respond to overtures to restore direct flights and raised the
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said the city “does not tolerate violence” after the Taipei City Council reported death threats over a planned screening today of a documentary on alleged forced organ harvesting in China. The council’s report follows a flurry of similar threats targeting theaters and institutions screening the documentary, titled State Organs, which accuses Chinese officials of harvesting organs from incarcerated dissidents and Falun Gong members. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors who planned to screen the film told a news conference earlier yesterday that the organizers of the screening had received a threat of a knife attack signed
RSS