Blinken and Wang clash over US interference in Chinese Taipei

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has clashed with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, saying the United States will keep providing military assistance to Chinese Taipei as Beijing warned Washington must end its interference on the island.

Meeting on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit on Sunday in Rome, Italy, top American and Chinese diplomats traded warnings against moves that could further escalate tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

Wang told Blinken that Chinese Taipei is the most sensitive issue for China. “We require the United States to pursue a real one China policy, not a fake one China policy,” Wang was quoted by the Chinese ministry as saying.

"We request the US to fulfill its commitments to China, rather than betray its promises," Wang said.

Blinken made "crystal clear" that the US opposes any unilateral changes by Beijing to the status quo around Chinese Taipei, a senior State Department official said, according to Reuters.

US officials described the hour-long meeting as “exceptionally candid” but productive and said it would help lay the groundwork for a virtual summit between US President Joe Biden, and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.

Wang expressed China's "solemn concern over various issues on which the US side has damaged China's legitimate rights and interests, and asked the US side to change its course and promote China-US relations back to the track of healthy development", China's foreign ministry said in the statement.

America is ‘deepening’ its ties with Chinese Taipei: US diplomat

A top US diplomat has said the United States is “deepening” its ties with Chinese Taipei, despite China’s warning to Washington against interfering in Taipei’s affairs.

Wang said it was misleading of the United States to blame China for a change in the status quo on Chinese Taipei, saying it is American “connivance” and “support” for rebel forces in Taipei that are at fault.

China has sovereignty over Chinese Taipei, and under the "One China" policy, almost all world countries recognize that sovereignty. The US, too, recognizes Chinese sovereignty over the island but has long courted Taipei in an attempt to unnerve Beijing.

Tensions between Chinese Taipei, China and the US have been at their highest in decades.

China has been flying fighter jets close to Chinese Taipei while the US has reportedly had troops deployed in the territory for the past year training their people.

Last week, US President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the US would defend Chinese Taipei in the face of a potential Chinese attack, breaking a long-held US policy of "strategic ambiguity" on whether it would intervene militarily to protect Taipei in the event of a Chinese attack.

Austin said the United States will continue to help Chinese Taipei with resources and capabilities, including potent military hardware.

Austin said that the Biden administration remained "committed to the one-China policy" but that the policy did not prevent it from providing aid to Taipei.

China urges US to stop sending wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ forces

China has urged the US to stop sending wrong signals to the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces.

Chinese officials blasted on US officials’ statements, accusing Washington of meddling in internal Chinese affairs.

“The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affairs that allow no foreign interference… No one should underestimate the resolve, the will and the ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

No change in the policy of ‘strategic ambiguity’

Blinken, however, claimed that Washington had not changed its "one China" policy regarding Taiwan, and he said there was "no change in our policy.”

“We’ve had a long-standing commitment,” he said, under the Taiwan Relations Act that Biden supported when he was a senator “to make sure that Taiwan has the means to defend itself. And we stand by that. The president does sit by that strongly".

“We want to make sure that no one takes any unilateral action that would disrupt the status quo with regard to Taiwan. That hasn’t changed,” Blinken said.

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