US puts Taiwan in focus in countdown to Xi-Biden summit
- In talks with Wang Yi on the weekend, Blinken urges Beijing to consider wishes and interests of the island’s people
- Beijing and Washington need to reach new deal to prevent armed conflict, analyst says
“[Blinken] urged Beijing to engage in meaningful dialogue to resolve cross-strait issues peacefully and in a manner consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people on Taiwan,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Sunday.
Wang underlined China’s opposition to the US’ “recent inaccurate words and deeds” on the Taiwan issue and called on Washington to stop sending “wrong signals” to the self-ruled island’s “independence-leaning forces”.
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No change to US’ one-China stand on Taiwan, Blinken tells Wang Yi on G20 sidelines in Rome
Analysts said Taiwan would be the focus of the summit, with all sides keen for Beijing and Washington to come up with a “crisis management” system to prevent the tensions escalating into armed conflict.
“Both sides need to reach a new consensus, or new deals on the Taiwan issue, for example, less confrontation ... and less hatred,” said Zhu Feng, dean of the school of international studies at Nanjing University.
Why Chinese military flights towards Taiwan prefer southwestern zone
Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province, to be brought back into its fold by force, if necessary.
Cross-strait relations went into rapid decline in 2016 after Tsai Ing-wen from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party was elected the island’s president and declined to acknowledge the one-China principle, which Beijing views as the foundation for any exchanges.
To put pressure on the island, the People’s Liberation Army embarked on “island encirclement patrols” by sending aircraft into the southwest of Taiwan’s air defence identification zone.
But Beijing says Washington has violated a long-standing consensus between the two countries with arms sales to the island and Blinken’s efforts to encourage other countries to support Taiwan’s bid to take part in agencies under the United Nations.
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China insists Taiwan has no right to join United Nations
Eagle Yin, a research fellow at the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies in Beijing, said the Taiwan Strait was the only potential point of military conflict between China and the United States, and neither side wanted to be the first to fire a shot.
“The international community will push both China and the US to do something, because developed countries and developing states do not want to live under the shadow of threat of great power competition,” Yin said.
But Yin and Zhu agreed that major progress was unlikely at the summit, given Taiwan was a core interest for Beijing.
“Beijing can only repeat the long-standing principles over the ‘one China’ policy, while the US may emphasise their responsibility to help Taiwan defend itself,” Zhu said.
