Taiwan was the focus of the 90-minute, “direct and honest” talks between Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Stefanie Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
China has accused the United States of sending “very false, dangerous signals” to Taiwan after the US Secretary of State Friday told his Chinese counterpart that maintaining peace and stability in Taiwan is vital.
Taiwan was at the center of the 90-minute “direct and candid” talks between Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, a US official told reporters.
“For our part, the minister has made it absolutely clear that, consistent with our longstanding one-China policy, which again has not changed, maintaining peace and stability across the Straits is absolutely and vitally important,” the senior US administration said official said.
China’s foreign ministry said in a statement at the meeting that the United States is sending “very wrong, dangerous signals” to Taiwan, and that the more rampant Taiwan’s independence activities are, the less likely a peaceful settlement is.
“The Taiwan issue is an internal Chinese matter, and the United States has no right to interfere in the method to be used to resolve it,” the ministry quoted Wang as saying.
Tensions over Taiwan have risen following a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi there in August — followed by large-scale Chinese military exercises — and a pledge by US President Joe Biden to defend the democratically-ruled island.
Biden’s statement was his clearest yet about the use of US troops to defend the island. It was also the latest example that he appears to have moved beyond a longstanding US policy of “strategic ambiguity,” which makes it unclear whether the United States would respond militarily to an attack on Taiwan.
The White House has insisted its Taiwan policy has not changed, but China said Biden’s comments sent the wrong signal to those seeking an independent Taiwan.
In a July call with Biden, Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned about Taiwan, saying, “Those who play with fire will perish.”
China considers Taiwan one of its provinces and has long vowed to take control of the island, not ruling out the use of force.
Taiwan’s government firmly rejects China’s claims of sovereignty, saying only the island’s 23 million residents can decide its future.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry, in response to the Blinken-Wang meeting, said China’s “recent provocative actions” have put the cross-straits at the center of discussion, and China is trying to “confuse international audiences with arguments and criticism that contradict reality.”
The State Department had previously said Blinken’s meeting with Wang was part of US efforts to “maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition,” and the senior official said Blinken recognized US openness to “collaborating with China on matters of.” global interest” affirmed .”
Blinken also highlighted “the implications” if China provided material support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or engaged in a full-scale evasion of sanctions, the official added.
US officials have said in the past they have seen no evidence of China providing such support.
Blinken “underscored the obligation of the United States and China and the international community to work to counter the effects of this invasion and to deter Russia from taking further provocative action,” the official said.
‘Devastate our bilateral ties’
Blinken’s meeting with Wang was preceded by a meeting between the foreign ministers of the Quad grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States, who issued a statement referring to the Indo-Pacific and saying: “We are strongly opposed to all of them. See the article : China is stepping up loan support work for developers in the midst of a mortgage boycott.” unilateral actions seeking to change the status quo or increase tensions in the region.”
Since Pelosi’s visit, “China has taken a number of provocative steps designed to deliberately change the status quo,” the US official said.
US Vice President Kamala Harris will discuss Taiwan’s security in bilateral meetings with leaders of US allies Japan and South Korea when she visits them next week, another US official said.
Daniel Russel, the top US diplomat to Asia under President Barack Obama, said the fact that Blinken and Wang had met was important after the turmoil Pelosi’s visit brought, and hopefully there was some progress in the organization of a meeting between Xi and Biden on November 24 on the sidelines of a G-20 meeting in November that would be their first face-to-face meeting as leaders.
“Wang and Blinken’s decision to meet in New York does not guarantee that the November summit will go smoothly or even take place at all. But had they not been able to meet, it would have meant the prospects for a November summit would have been bleak,” he told Russel, now with the Asia Society.
Speaking at the Asia Society in New York on Thursday, Wang said the Taiwan issue is becoming the biggest risk in the Sino-US conflict. Relationships.
“If mishandled, it will most likely destroy our bilateral ties,” Wang said, according to a transcript from the Chinese embassy.
Likewise, the decades-old US law outlining Washington’s unofficial ties with Taiwan – which Beijing considers zero – makes it clear that Washington’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with China in 1979 “is based on the expectation that Taiwan’s future will be determined by peaceful means . “
