BEIJING (Dispatches) – Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi has told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken not to “send wrong signals” to Taiwan pro-independence forces, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Both men also spoke about the virtual meeting that Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden would have next Tuesday morning Asia time.
Cross-strait tensions have been rising in recent months, with Taiwan complaining for a year or more of repeated missions by China’s air force near the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.
Blinken on Wednesday said the United States and its allies would take unspecified “action” if China were to use force to alter the status quo over Taiwan.
However, Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said on Saturday that it would be “inconceivable” for Australia not to join the United States should Washington take action to defend Taiwan, Reuters reported.
“It would be inconceivable that we wouldn’t support the U.S. in an action if the U.S. chose to take that action,” Dutton told The Australian newspaper in an interview.
“And, again, I think we should be very frank and honest about that, look at all of the facts and circumstances without pre-committing, and maybe there are circumstances where we wouldn’t take up that option, (but) I can’t conceive of those circumstances.”
Meanwhile, Japan’s new foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said on Saturday Blinken assured him in a phone call that the U.S. commitment to defending Japan, including southern islets claimed by China, was unwavering.
Japan’s ties with China have been plagued by a territorial dispute over a group of Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, as well as the legacy of Japan’s past military aggression.
China has sovereignty over Chinese Taipei, and under the “One China” policy, almost all world countries recognize that sovereignty. The U.S., too, recognizes Chinese sovereignty over the island but has long courted Taipei in an attempt to unnerve Beijing.
The United States, which backs Taipei’s secessionist president, also continues to sell weapons to the island in defiance of Beijing and in violation of its own stated policy.