The US would not make concessions to China on Taiwan-related issues, Stimson Center China program director Yun Sun (孫韻) told Voice of America (VOA).
The Taiwan issue was one of the focuses of the meetings between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) in Bangkok on Friday and Saturday, VOA reported on Saturday.
The communication channel between Sullivan and Wang is an important mechanism for managing bilateral differences and implementing a consensus reached by the two sides, German Marshall Fund Indo-Pacific Program managing director Bonnie Glaser told VOA.
Photo: Reuters
However, US President Joe Biden’s administration would not enter into an agreement with Beijing on Taiwan issues even if the latter seeks to reach one, she said.
The US would not use issues related to Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region as bargaining chips to negotiate with China, Sun said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) requested that the US stop arming Taiwan and support peaceful cross-strait unification during his meeting with Biden in San Francisco on the sidelines of the APEC summit in November last year, to which the US would make no concessions, she added.
China has repeatedly underlined that Taiwan is at the center of China’s core interests and a red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations.
Political observers expected that the US and China would continue to engage in active dialogues on Taiwan to manage risks by May 20, the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party, VOA said.
The US has been cautiously managing risks during Lai’s campaign, Sun said, citing the example of Washington showing concern over Lai’s comment that he hoped he could visit the White House.
Considering that there is no room for communication and dialogue between China and the DPP-led government and that Lai takes a pro-US stance, China could only ask the US to restrain Lai, National University of Singapore assistant professor Ian Chong (莊嘉穎) said.
However, the US might not want to or would be unable to do so as the election results reflected the will of Taiwanese voters, he said.
Another central topic at the meeting between Sullivan and Wang was the conflict in the Red Sea as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants have been launching attacks in the area since November last year in a show of support for Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza, VOA said.
Washington called on Beijing, Tehran’s biggest trading partner in the past decade, to play a constructive role and to stop Houthi militants from disrupting global shipping, it said.
Huang Kwei-bo (黃奎博), a professor at National Chengchi University’s Department of Diplomacy, told VOA that China’s economic strength could have some degree of influence on Iran.
However, as Beijing is unlikely to help without asking for anything in return, Taiwan might become a bargaining chip in Beijing’s negotiations with Washington, he said.
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