Washington wants to strengthen its trade ties with Taiwan in the face of China’s provocations. Indeed, the United States will carry out new air and sea crossings in the island’s strait. This was announced on Friday by Kurt Campbell, coordinator of the White House for Asia-Pacific.
An “ambitious road map” on trade will be released “in the coming days,” the official said. The council added that the Biden administration “will continue to strengthen (its) ties with Taiwan, including advancing our economic and trade relationship.”
US ships and planes will make further passages into the Taiwan Strait “in the coming weeks,” Kurt Campbell added. US forces “will continue to fly, sail or operate where international law permits,” he said, without specifying the nature of the deployments to the strait or their timing.
A campaign to pressure China
Kurt Campbell also claimed that Beijing had used House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent controversial visit to Taiwan to try to change the status quo regarding the situation on the island. This visit was “consistent” with Washington policy and China “overreacted,” he said.
The people’s republic was effectively carried away after the arrival of Nancy Pelosi last week, launching multi-day air and sea exercises around the island. In response, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to the region.
Beijing used this pretext to “launch a pressure campaign against Taiwan to change the status quo, endangering peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” China’s actions “remain provocative, destabilizing and unprecedented,” said Kurt Campbell.
Criticizing China’s decision to end its climate cooperation with the United States, the senior official said Washington continues to keep communication channels “open” with Beijing.
Source: BFM TV
