The visit is part of a trip to the Indo-Pacific region, he said. China recently saw a provocation in the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
China carried out new military drills near the island on Monday in response to another US delegation’s visit to Taiwan. This serves as a “strong deterrent against the United States and Taiwan and their political tricks that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the Chinese military said. China considers democratically governed Taiwan a breakaway province and claims the island as its own. The Beijing government is threatening all countries that maintain or establish contacts with Taiwan with consequences.
A week and a half after the visit of top US politician Nancy Pelosi, a US Congressional delegation surprisingly arrived in Taiwan on Sunday. During their unannounced visit, which runs until Monday, the delegation wants to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen, among others, as both sides announced in Taipei. China reacted angrily and accused US politicians of “playing with fire”.
The five-person delegation, led by Ed Markey, will remain in Taiwan until Monday as part of “an extended visit to the Indo-Pacific region,” the US institute in Taipei said. Talks with Taiwanese politicians will cover bilateral relations, regional security, trade and investment, global supply chains, climate change and other important issues.
China: “US is playing with fire”
According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a meeting with President Tsai and a banquet with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu were planned. The ministry said in a statement that as China “further heightens tensions in the region”, the US Congress has again sent a high-level delegation to visit Taiwan “to show a friendship that does not shy away from China’s threats and fears intimidation”.
China’s outrage at the US delegation’s visit was expressed in a commentary carried by the official Xinhua news agency. The piece, titled “U.S. Politicians Must Stop Playing with Fire on Taiwan Issues,” vilified the five lawmakers who visited Taiwan for selfish reasons in November’s midterm elections as “opportunists.”
“There is no room for compromise or concessions when it comes to China’s core interests,” the commentary said. In response to US House Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China carried out the biggest military maneuvers in its history in the waters around Taiwan.
US wants to cross Taiwan Strait
Since the split between China and Taiwan in 1949, Beijing has viewed the island as a breakaway territory that it wants to reunite with the mainland – if necessary using military force. Beijing is threatening all countries that maintain or establish contacts with the democratically governed island with consequences. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has stoked fears that Beijing may use a similar approach in its negotiations with Taiwan.
After several extensions, China ended its maneuvers, but stressed that it would continue to patrol the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in its weekly report on Sunday that it had spotted 22 Chinese planes and six Chinese ships in the strait between the People’s Republic and Taiwan. Eleven planes crossed the unofficial maritime border between China and Taiwan, known as the central line.
The United States wants to cross the Taiwan Strait with ships and planes in “the coming weeks”. “In keeping with our long-term commitment to freedom of navigation,” US forces “will continue to fly, navigate the seas and operate where international law permits,” said the US coordinator for the Asia-Pacific region. Friday.
US speaks of Beijing’s ‘exaggeration’
The United States also wants to expand its trade relations with Taiwan. In the coming days, the US will release a new trade plan for Taiwan, as well as information about planned trade talks with Taipei, Campbell said. He called China’s military maneuvers after Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan an “overreaction” by Beijing.
Pelosi visited Taiwan last week. China sees the visit as a provocation and a violation of its own sovereignty and, after his departure, launched maneuvers around the island on an unprecedented scale. More recently, 13 Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s airspace on Saturday.
(PA/red.)