Mattis outrages Beijing with explicit commitment to defend Taiwan
US remains committed to defence of the island but also abides by the one-China policy, US defence chief says at Shangri-La Dialogue
China’s military delegation to a security summit in Singapore blasted the United States on Saturday for underscoring Washington’s responsibility to defend Taiwan.
Defence ministers from the US, Japan and Australia also said they opposed China’s land reclamation in the South China Sea and condemned Pyongyang’s nuclear proliferation push.
US Secretary of Defence James Mattis, as well as his Japanese and Australian counterparts Tomomi Inada and Marise Payne, all highlighted their support for last year’s ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that invalidated China’s claim to sovereignty over large swathes of the South China Sea. They said they opposed China’s “militarisation move” in the disputed waters through land reclamation and weapons deployment on the artificial islands because it has unilaterally changed the security “status quo” in the region.
Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue, Mattis said the US would continue to abide by its commitment to Taiwan, the first time the island has been mentioned by a US delegation to the forum since its inception in 2002.
“The Department of Defence remains steadfastly committed to working with Taiwan and with its democratic government to provide it the defence articles necessary, consistent with the obligations set out in the Taiwan Relations Act, because we stand for the peaceful resolution of any issues in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” Mattis said, adding later that the US was committed to the one-China policy.