Washington will strengthen its trade relationship with Taiwan and make new air and sea crossings through the strait, in response to China’s “provocative” actions, a senior US official said on Friday.
Washington wants to strengthen its commercial ties with Taiwan in the face of provocations from China. The United States will indeed make new air and sea crossings in the strait of the island. This was announced by Kurt Campbell, White House coordinator for Asia-Pacific, on Friday.
An “ambitious roadmap” on trade will be unveiled “in the coming days”, the official said. The council added that the Biden administration would “continue to strengthen (its) ties with Taiwan, including continuing to advance our economic and trade relationship.”
American ships and planes will make new passages in the Taiwan Strait “in the coming weeks”, added Kurt Campbell. US forces “will continue to fly, sail or operate wherever international law allows,” he said, without specifying the nature of the deployments in the strait or their timing.
A campaign to put pressure on China
Kurt Campbell also claimed that Beijing had used the recent controversial visit of Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan in an attempt to upset the status quo regarding the situation on the island. This visit was “consistent” with Washington’s policy, and China “overreacted”, he said.
The people’s republic was indeed carried away after the arrival of Nancy Pelosi, last week, launching air and maritime exercises of several days 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, jeopardizing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”. China’s actions “continue to be 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 continued to keep communication channels “open” with Beijing.