U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang on Tuesday morning, focusing on the Taiwan Strait issue. Other topics include the diplomatic operations of the U.S. and Chinese embassies and consulates and the travel ban on Taliban officials.
After the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, US dignitaries such as Ed Markey, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Group of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Indiana Republican Governor Eric Holcomb also visited Taiwan one after another.
China has carried out unprecedented high-intensity military exercises around Taiwan and unilaterally cut off cooperation with the United States in areas such as military, illicit drug control and climate change.
Whether the Beijing government’s response is related to the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said: “This question is actually to be asked of China. There is no doubt that they have taken aggressive and aggressive measures near the Taiwan Strait. Unprecedented provocation and military action on many fronts. It’s up to them to tell. For us, we’re watching the situation very closely… It’s China that seeks to disrupt the status quo – through its recent actions and the past few years actions to undermine the status quo that has always existed and stabilized the core of the Taiwan Strait.”
Despite the ongoing diplomatic confrontation between the United States and China, the two countries have been able to maintain communication through the presence of ambassadors.
The US government said that maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait is in the national interests of the US and its Asia-Pacific allies.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said: “One of the important interests of the United States and its allies is the stability of the situation in the Taiwan Strait. The Taiwan Strait is an important global crossroads. A large amount of global trade flows through the Taiwan Strait. It has been about forty years. The United States and our allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific region stand up to defend and maintain this status quo.”
The U.S. State Department told VOA that other topics discussed at the meeting between Sherman and Qin included the diplomatic operations of the U.S. and Chinese embassies and consulates, restrictions related to the new coronavirus, and a travel ban on Taliban officials.