TAIPAI / BEIJING, March 1 – A delegation of former senior US defense and security officials, sent by President Joe Biden, arrived in Taipei on Tuesday for a visit condemned by China in the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The visit, led by former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, comes as Taiwan raises its vigilance, fearing China will take advantage of the distracted West to oppose it.
Beijing says the democratically run island is its own and has vowed to bring it under Chinese control, by force if necessary.
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Mullen, a retired naval admiral who served as a senior U.S. military officer under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, was accompanied by Megan O’Sullivan, a former deputy national security adviser to Bush, and Michelle Flurnoy, a former deputy. Secretary of Defense under Obama.
Two former senior members of the National Security Council for Asia, Mike Green and Evan Medeiros, are also on a trip aimed at “demonstrating our continued strong support for Taiwan,” a U.S. official told Reuters.
The group landed a private plane at Songshan Airport in central Taipei and was greeted by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
They will meet with President Tsai Ying-wen on Wednesday, the same day that former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will arrive, although he comes separately and as a private citizen.
China describes Taiwan as the most sensitive and important issue in its relations with the United States, and any high-level interaction has upset Beijing.
“The will of the Chinese people to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country is unshakable. “Whoever sends the United States to show support for Taiwan is inevitably failing,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said of the visit.
Taiwan’s Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang told reporters earlier Tuesday that the trip showed “the importance of both Taiwan-US relations and Taiwan’s position,” as well as strong US support for the island.
“This is a very good thing,” he added.
Their flight, from Washington to Anchorage, made an unusual arrival, flying down the Japanese Ryukyu Islands before heading to Taipei from Taiwan’s northeast coast and far away from China, according to the FlightRadar24 flight tracking website.
The more normal approach to their direction of travel is over the East China Sea.
On Saturday, a U.S. warship passed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, part of what the U.S. military calls routine activity but which China described as “provocative.” Read more
Wang went further on Tuesday, using even stronger terms.
“If the United States is trying to threaten and oppress China with this, then we have to tell them that in front of the Great Steel Wall, forged by 1.4 billion Chinese, any military deterrence is just scrap metal,” he said.
“The trick of an American warship sailing through the Taiwan Strait must be left to those who foolishly believe in hegemony.
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Report by Yu Lun Tian and Ben Blanchard; Edited by Jacqueline Wong and Simon Cameron-Moore
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