“We do not seek conflict with them [Chinese],” President Biden tells his military advisers, while top US diplomat Blinken says Beijing is trying to speed up its total control of Taiwan.
President Joe Biden, in a meeting with his top military advisers, has said that the United States “does not seek conflict” with China and that Chinese President Xi Jinping knows this.
Biden said on Wednesday the United States would continue to lead on a number of issues, from Russia’s aggression in Ukraine to the climate crisis to the Asia-Pacific region.
“We do not seek conflict with them,” he said of the Chinese.
The Biden administration has repeatedly accused China of using a visit to Taiwan in August by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a pretext to ramp up military drills around the island, which Beijing says is its breakaway province.
China’s leader Xi Jinping told the five-yearly congress of China’s ruling Communist Party this month that Beijing would never renounce the right to use force over Taiwan, but that it would strive for a peaceful resolution.
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US: China wants to change status quo
Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that China has decided the status quo of Taiwan’s situation is no longer acceptable and has begun to ratchet up pressure on the island, including holding out the possibility of using force.
Speaking at an event organised by Bloomberg, Blinken said China had altered a decades-old basic understanding between Washington and Beijing that its differences with Taiwan would be managed peacefully.
“What’s changed is this: the decision by the government in Beijing that that status quo was no longer acceptable, that they wanted to speed up the process by which they would pursue reunification,” Blinken said.
Blinken added that China has also made decisions on exerting more pressure on Taiwan and holding out the possibility of “using force to achieve their goals” if pressure tactics do not work.
“That is what has fundamentally changed.”
Washington did not want a “Cold War” and was not trying to restrain China, he added, but was resolute and standing up for its interests.
Last week, the top US diplomat said Beijing was determined to pursue reunification with Taiwan “on a much faster timeline,” though he did not specify a date.
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Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Biden: US does not seek conflict with China
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