NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told his Chinese counterpart on Friday that maintaining peace and stability in Taiwan was vital, as the two faced high tensions on the disputed island from China. Taiwan was the focus of 90 minutes of “direct and frank” talks between Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a senior government official told reporters. “For our part, the secretary has made it clear that, in accordance with our long-standing one-China policy, which again has not changed, maintaining cross-strait peace and stability is absolutely, vitally important,” the official said. . Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Tensions over Taiwan have flared since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit there in August – which was followed by large-scale Chinese military exercises – and US President Joe Biden’s pledge to defend the self-ruled island . Biden’s statement was the clearest yet about the commitment of US troops to defend the island. It was also the latest case that appeared to go beyond a long-standing US policy of “strategic ambiguity”, which makes it unclear whether Washington would respond militarily to an attack on Taiwan. read more The White House insisted its policy on Taiwan has not changed, but China said Biden’s remarks sent the wrong message to those seeking an independent Taiwan. read more In a phone call with Biden in July, Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned about Taiwan, saying “those who play with fire will perish from it.” The State Department had earlier said Blinken’s meeting with Wang was part of Washington’s ongoing efforts to “maintain open lines of communication and manage competition responsibly,” and the senior official said Blinken had reiterated that the U.S. is open in “cooperation with China on matters of global concern. .” Blinken also “stressed the consequences” if China provides material support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or engages in wholesale sanctions evasion, the official added. US officials have previously said they have seen no evidence that China has provided such support. Blinken “underscored that the United States and China and the international community have an obligation to work to address the consequences of this invasion and also to deter Russia from further provocative actions,” the official said. China views the democratically governed Taiwan as one of its provinces. Beijing has long vowed to bring Taiwan under its control and has not ruled out using force to do so. Taiwan’s government strongly opposes China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s 23 million people can decide its future.
“DESTROY OUR BILATERAL TIES”
Blinken’s meeting with Wang was preceded by a meeting between the foreign ministers of the Quad group of Australia, India, Japan and the United States, which issued a statement, referring to the Indo-Pacific, saying “we strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the region.” The official briefed on Friday said that after Pelosi’s visit, “China has taken a series of provocative steps that by design have acted to change the status quo.” US Vice President Kamala Harris will discuss Taiwan’s security during bilateral meetings with the leaders of key US allies Japan and South Korea when she visits the two countries next week, another senior administration official said on Friday. read more In a speech at the Asia Society think tank in New York on Thursday, Wang said the Taiwan issue is emerging as the biggest risk in China-US relations. “If it is mishandled, it is very likely to destroy our bilateral ties,” Wang said, according to a transcript from the Chinese embassy in Washington. Similarly, the decades-old US law outlining Washington’s informal relations with Taiwan – which Beijing considers null and void – makes clear that Washington’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with China in 1979 “is based on the expectation that Taiwan’s future shall be determined by peaceful means. “ Earlier in the week, Wang met with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the architect of US relations with Communist China, and said a “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan was China’s ambition. But he said the likelihood of a peaceful resolution was diminished by Taiwan’s increasingly “unbridled” sense of independence and invoked a Chinese proverb: “It is better to lose a thousand soldiers than an inch of ground.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, David Brunnstrom, Michael Martina and Simon Lewis. Editing: Mary Milliken, Sam Holmes, Diane Craft and Jonathan Oatis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
