NewsUSAThe US pressures China to give in to Taiwan in a reunion between defense ministers

The US pressures China to give in to Taiwan in a reunion between defense ministers

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin – Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press vi / DPA

The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin, has pressured his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, on Tuesday to avoid “destabilizing actions” towards Taiwan, in what has been the first bilateral meeting since the visit of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to the island in August.

“The secretary has reiterated that he remains committed to the ‘One China’ policy (…), has reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Straits (…), has underlined his opposition to unilateral changes in the ‘status quo,'” Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder said in a statement.

“He has asked the People’s Republic of China –official name of the country– to refrain from carrying out further destabilizing actions towards Taiwan,” Ryder stressed, after a bilateral meeting in Cambodia, on the sidelines of a meeting of defense ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Austin and Wei have discussed defense relations between Washington and Beijing, as well as regional and global security issues. In this regard, the US representative has emphasized “the need to responsibly manage competition and keep lines of communication open.”

Thus, Austin has stressed the importance of reducing strategic risk or improving crisis communications. However, he has reaffirmed the country’s policy, by assuring that the US “will continue to fly, navigate and operate where international law allows.”

The last time Wei and Austin spoke was in June in Singapore, when most of the conversation turned to Taiwan, the thorniest issue between the two sides. Repeated statements by President Biden that the US would defend Taiwan if attacked have alarmed Chinese officials over an alleged US policy shift known as “strategic ambiguity”, in which Washington did not say how it would respond.

In addition, both politicians have commented on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and North Korea’s launch of ballistic missiles.

Both Austin and Wei have positioned themselves against the use of nuclear weapons, as well as the threats in this regard. While the head of the Pentagon has urged Beijing to pressure its neighboring country to “comply fully with the existing resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.”

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