The talks come just days ahead of pivotal elections in Taiwan. Image: EPA
China promises the US that it won’t “ever compromise” on Taiwan.
In its first military discussions with the US since 2021, China has declared that it will “never compromise” on the Taiwan dispute.
It asked that the US “take its concerns seriously” and “stop arming Taiwan.”
This occurs just a few days before crucial elections in Taiwan that might move the island farther closer to Beijing or further away from it.
Although Taiwan considers itself to be separate from the Chinese mainland, China claims the island as part of its own territory.
“China expressed its willingness to develop healthy and stable military-to-military relations with the United States on the basis of equality and respect,” according to the readout from the defence ministry.
Beijing would “not make any concession or compromise on the Taiwan question and demand that the US side honour the one-China principle, relevant commitments, stop arming Taiwan, and not support Taiwan independence,” the statement continued, emphasising that the US needed to take China’s concerns “seriously.”
In the competition between China and the US for dominance in Asia, Taiwan is a crucial flashpoint. As a form of protest in August 2022, following the visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China declined to continue talks in 2022.
The agreement reached between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in November led to their restart early this week. Tuesday marked the end of the two-day negotiations in Washington.
Separately, Taiwan declared that it did not view Tuesday’s Chinese satellite launch over the southern airspace of the island as an act of electoral meddling.
An alarm for an island-wide air raid was triggered by a satellite launch on Tuesday afternoon. Users of mobile phones on the self-governing island were alerted to “be aware for your safety” by message.
Later, the notice sent to mobile phones had an incorrect reference to a missile, for which Taiwan’s defence ministry issued an apology.
Spokesman for Taiwan’s presidential office Lin Yuchanstated,“Political attempts can be ruled out after the national security team has analysed the overall relevant information and taken into account the evaluation of the information of various international allies.”
The Einstein Probe satellite, according to Chinese state media, is meant to “observe mysterious transient phenomena”.
The Kuomintang (KMT), the principal opposition party on the island, denounced as “arbitrary” the islandwide alert’s use of scare tactics.