US warns China against unilateral action over Taiwan

ROME • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Chinese counterpart yesterday that the United States opposed actions by China that have increased tensions across the Taiwan Strait, a senior State Department official said.

During an hour-long meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit, Mr Blinken made it "crystal clear" that Washington opposes any unilateral changes by Beijing to the status quo there, the official said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Mr Wang told Mr Blinken yesterday that tensions over Taiwan were caused by US support for pro-independence forces in Taiwan.

Mr Wang, who is also a state councillor, urged the US to correct its "wrong course" on various issues and return Sino-US relations to a track of healthy development, the statement said.

In the face-to-face meeting, Mr Wang also told Mr Blinken that Taiwan was the most sensitive issue in their relations.

Taiwan views a recent increase in Chinese war planes being sent to its air defence identification zone as stepped-up military harassment by Beijing.

Taiwan's air force scrambled yesterday to warn off eight Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets, that entered its air defence zone, its Defence Ministry said. The Chinese aircraft included six J-16 fighters, one anti-submarine aircraft and one surveillance aircraft.

China claims Taiwan as part of its own territory and views any foreign intervention over Taiwan as interference in its domestic affairs.

The US wants to manage the intense competition between the world's two largest economies responsibly, the State Department official said, adding that both sides acknowledged that open lines of communication are paramount.

Mr Blinken's meeting with Mr Wang was their first in person since a fiery exchange in Anchorage, Alaska, in March, when US and Chinese officials levelled sharp rebukes of the other side's policies in a rare public display.

Yesterday's meeting in Rome was "exceptionally candid" but productive, and would help lay the groundwork for a virtual summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year, the official said.

While the US, like most countries, has no formal ties with Taiwan, Washington is the island's most important international backer and main arms supplier, and is required by law to provide it with the means to defend itself.

The US has long followed a policy of "strategic ambiguity" on whether it would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, though Mr Biden said last week that it would come to Taiwan's defence if necessary. Still, Mr Blinken made clear that Washington had not changed its "one China" policy regarding Taiwan, the official said.

The top US diplomat, who will attend the COP26 United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, also urged China to fulfil its obligations as a responsible power in terms of limiting emissions, the official said. He raised concerns about other Chinese actions that "undermine the international rules-based order and that run counter to our values and interests", including in relation to human rights, Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong and the East and South China Seas, the State Department said.

Mr Blinken and Mr Wang did not discuss a recent Chinese hypersonic weapon test that military experts say appears to show Beijing's pursuit of an Earth-orbiting system designed to evade US missile defences, the official added.

REUTERS