U.S. increases support for Taiwan, says to counter rising China pressure
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The United States said it was establishing a new bilateral economic dialogue with Taiwan, an initiative it said was aimed at strengthening ties with Taipei and supporting it in the face of increasing pressure from Beijing.
Washington also said it had declassified six Reagan-era security assurances given to Taiwan, a move analysts said appeared intended to show further support for Taipei.
The announcements come at a time of increasing Chinese threats towards Taiwan, and when relations between Washington and Beijing have sunk to their lowest level in decades. U.S. President Donald Trump is campaigning for re-election in November with a tough approach to China among his key foreign policy platforms.
The State Department’s top diplomat for East Asia, David Stilwell, told a virtual forum hosted by the conservative Heritage Foundation the latest U.S. moves were not a policy shift, but part of a set of “significant adjustments” within Washington’s longstanding “one-China” policy.
Washington felt compelled to make these given the “increasing threat posed by Beijing to peace and stability” in a vitally important region and Beijing’s attempts to isolate Taiwan diplomatically while subjecting it to military threats.
