Mainland China’s ‘overreaction’ on Taiwan a danger to peace, US ambassador says

Name: Latest US delegation to visit Taiwan pushes for closer economic ties with self-ruled island
Uploaded: 2022-09-29T09:35:42.000Z
Duration: 2 min 27 s
Description: Latest US delegation to visit Taiwan pushes for closer economic ties with self-ruled island

US ambassador Nicholas Burns says Beijing is endangering a peaceful resolution to tensions in the Taiwan Strait

The US is not seeking to decouple, but will ‘vigorously’ compete with China, Burns says

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Nicholas Burns, who was appointed US ambassador to Beijing in March, says China’s aggression risked a peaceful resolution to tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Photo: Reuters

Ji Siqi

Published: 5:35pm, 29 Sep 2022Updated: 5:44pm, 29 Sep 2022

The United States has not shifted its stance on Taiwan and remains committed to the one China policy, but Beijing’s “overreaction” to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi risks a peaceful resolution, Washington’s ambassador to China said on Thursday.

Nicholas Burns, who was appointed ambassador in March, said countries in Southeast Asia should also be concerned about mainland China’s aggression in the Taiwan Strait, given its importance as a shipping route.

“If anyone has changed policy here, it’s really the People’s Republic of China, with their overreaction, for nearly two months now since speaker Pelosi’s visit,” he said at the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore.

“We’ve had a median line in the Taiwan Strait for 68 years, it has really kept the peace. [China] tries to erase that: they fired missiles over Taiwan into the Japanese economic zone, they simulated a naval blockade and air blockade.”

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Latest US delegation to visit Taiwan pushes for closer economic ties with self-ruled island

Mainland China launched massive military drills encircling Taiwan, which it regards as a breakaway province, after Pelosi defied Beijing’s warnings and visited in early August. It later suspended dialogue with the US on military and climate change matters.