The US is signaling its support for Taiwan with a visit by former national security and defense officials.
A delegation that includes former US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Michael Mullen and ex-undersecretary of defense for policy Michele Flournoy arrived in Taipei yesterday, the Central News Agency reported.
They are to meet President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) today to discuss a range of international issues, including relations between the two sides, the Presidential Office said in a statement.
Photo: CNA
They are also to attend a dinner reception later in the day.
Tsai last week downplayed worries that Russia’s attack of Ukraine might trigger a crisis in Taiwan.
She also warned the public about “external forces” using false information about the situation in Ukraine to sow panic about a possible Chinese threat.
“The dispatch of a delegation of former officials to Taipei is intended to send a message of reassurance about US support for Taiwan’s security,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the US. “The signal to Beijing is that the US is not distracted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the US has a strong stake in the preservation of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) welcomed Washington’s decision to arrange the trip.
US “President [Joe] Biden sending this senior delegation to Taiwan at this time of great change in the world shows the significance of US-Taiwan ties and Taiwan’s status, as well as the fact that the US highly values regional peace,” Su said at the legislature in Taipei.
Su also said that the central bank has enough US dollar liquidity to keep the New Taiwan dollar “dynamically stable” in the event of large fund outflows.
Foreign investors have been net sellers of local stocks in the past few sessions amid investor concern over the fighting in Ukraine, last week helping send the NT dollar to its lowest close since the middle of October last year.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told a news briefing yesterday that the US should “stop all forms of official interaction with Taiwan and handle Taiwan-related issues in a prudent manner, lest it should further undermine the larger interests of bilateral relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
“The Chinese people are firmly determined to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Wang said.
The US visit comes as Taiwan makes its own gesture of support for Ukraine.
A flight containing medical supplies for Ukraine departed from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday bound for Frankfurt, Germany.
China has maintained its military pressure on Taiwan in the past few days.
Taiwan detected nine Chinese military aircraft off its southwest on Thursday last week, the day Russia mounted its attack on Ukraine.
On Saturday, the US Navy sent a destroyer through the Taiwan Strait.
The US 7th Fleet said in a statement that the move was intended to show the US’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Sung Wen-ti (宋文笛), a lecturer in Australian National University’s Taiwan Studies Program in Taipei, said that another item on the US delegation’s agenda could be explaining to officials how the nation fits into the Biden administration’s new strategy for the region.
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