The United States is responding to China’s “provocative” behavior toward Taiwan by boosting trade with the democratically-run island and insisting on air and sea passage through the strained Straits, the White House said on Friday.
A new trade plan will be presented within days as US forces cross the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks, said Kurt Campbell, White House coordinator for Asia-Pacific affairs and adviser to President Joe Biden.
Campbell told reporters that communist China used House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent controversial visit to Taiwan to try to change the island’s uncertain status quo.
Campbell insisted that the visit of Pelosi, the top US official who has traveled to Taiwan for years, was “consistent” with existing Washington policy and said China had “overreacted”.
Beijing used the pretext to launch “an intensified pressure campaign against Taiwan to try to change the status quo, thereby endangering peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the wider region,” he said.
“China has overreacted and its actions continue to be provocative, destabilizing and unprecedented.”
In response, the United States is reaffirming its commitment to the region while reaffirming the policy of diplomatic recognition of China while supporting Taiwan’s self-government.
Campbell said the government will “continue to deepen our relationship with Taiwan, including by further expanding our economic and trade ties.”
“For example, we are developing an ambitious roadmap for trade negotiations, which we intend to announce in the coming days,” he said.
Campbell said the United States will reassert its rights to use international air and sea space between Taiwan and China.
The U.S. Forces “will continue to fly, sail and operate where international law permits, consistent with our longstanding commitment to the freedom of navigation.”
“This includes conducting standard air and sea transits across the Taiwan Strait over the next few weeks,” he told reporters.
Campbell did not confirm what type of operation would be conducted in support of the maneuvers and said he had no “comments on the nature of our crossings or the timetables across the Taiwan Strait.”
Campbell criticized China’s decision to stop working with Washington on issues such as fighting climate change, saying “we have and will keep lines of communication open with Beijing.”
The official noted that Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have asked staffers to set up an in-person summit, but declined to comment on reports that it could take place during the G20 group meeting in Bali in November this year.
“We don’t have any further details about the time and place,” he said.
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