US accuses China of post-Pelosi coercive pressure campaign against Taiwan

Name: US carries out ICBM test that was delayed over tensions with Beijing in Taiwan Strait
Uploaded: 2022-08-18T09:00:18.000Z
Duration: 1 min 41 s
Description: US carries out ICBM test that was delayed over tensions with Beijing in Taiwan Strait

Senior US State Department official says Beijing is trying to intimidate the island and overreacted to House speaker’s trip

Beijing envoy says Taiwanese independence forces and US trying to change the status quo

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US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink says Beijing is seeking to intimidate Taiwan in the aftermath of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit the island. Photo: Getty Images

Cyril Ip

Published: 5:00pm, 18 Aug 2022

Washington has accused Beijing of mounting “an intensified pressure campaign” against Taiwan in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island.

The claims follow accusations from a Chinese envoy that Washington “took the first step to provoke China on the Taiwan question”.

“The goal of this campaign is clear – to intimidate and coerce Taiwan, and undermine its resilience,” Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said on Thursday.

Kritenbrink said Pelosi’s trip was not unprecedented and was consistent with Washington’s one-China policy, an approach guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances.

“The [People’s Republic of China] overreacted and its actions continued to be provocative, destabilising and unprecedented,” he said, adding that Beijing used the congresswoman’s layover as a “pretext” to launch the “campaign”.

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US carries out ICBM test that was delayed over tensions with Beijing in Taiwan Strait

In a joint interview with major US media outlets on Tuesday, Chinese ambassador to Washington Qin Gang rejected suggestions the Pelosi visit was simply a pretext.