Blinken attends ASEAN gathering in Cambodia, calls China’s military drills near Taiwan ‘significant escalation’

Asia-Pacific, News, US August 5, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concern on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Cambodia that Beijing might be trying to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait with a military response to the controversial visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island.

U.S. secretary of state said China’s military drills around Taiwan are provocations and “significant escalation.”

Blinked said: “We’ve seen how Beijing has attempted to change the status quo on Taiwan for some time – for example, more than doubling the number of aircraft flown over the centerline that separates China and Taiwan over the past two years; pursuing economic coercion, political interference, cyber-attacks against Taiwan. Now they’ve taken dangerous acts to a new level.”

However, he emphasized that nothing has changed about the U.S. position on the One China policy and expressed hope that “Beijing will not manufacture a crisis or seek a pretext to increase its aggressive military activity.”

“We oppose any unilateral efforts to change the status quo, especially by force. We remain committed to our “one China” policy, guided by our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Communiqués, and the Six Assurances,” Blinken said.

He added that “We and countries around the world believe that escalation serves no one and could have unintended consequences that serve no one’s interests, including ASEAN members, and including China.”

“One China” policy is the diplomatic acknowledgment of China’s position that there is only one Chinese government and that Taiwan is part of China. Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan, a self-governing country of over 23 million people, which China sees as a breakaway province.

^{U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a group photo with ASEAN officials during the ASEAN-US ministerial meeting at the Sokha Hotel in Phnom Penh on August 4, 2022. (Image Credit: U.S. Embassy in Indonesia)}

‘China chose to overreact over Pelosi’s visit’

Blinken said that the United States has “conveyed to the PRC consistently and repeatedly that we do not seek and will not provoke a crisis. President Tsai has said the same thing. China has chosen to overreact and use Speaker Pelosi’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait.”

Blinken told reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting said the U.S. House Speaker’s visit was peaceful and there is “no justification” for China’s escalatory military response.

Blinken said he had “vigorous communication” with all of the ASEAN foreign ministers about the Taiwan Strait situation he repeated that China “should not use the visit as a pretext for escalation, for provocative actions, that there is no possible justification for what they’ve done, and urged them to cease these actions.”

Secretary Blinken traveled to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from August 3-5, to attend the foreign ministers’ meetings for ASEAN-United States Ministerial Meeting, the 12th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and the 29th ASEAN Regional Forum. During the meetings, the U.S. and ASEAN countries addressed the pandemic, economic cooperation, climate change response, maritime issues including in the South China Sea, the Burma crisis, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

China launches live-fire drills around Taiwan

Chinese military fired multiple precision missiles toward the northeast and southwestern targets near Taiwan during its military exercise after Pelosi’s visit. Some of those missiles landed in the exclusive economic zone of Japan, causing concerns in the country.

China missile live-fire around Taiwan — *^{China launches live-fire drills near Taiwan}*

On August 4, 2022, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) started conducting live-fire drills around Taiwan to initiate its large-scale and unprecedented military exercise in the region. The live-fire drills and military exercises would continue until August 7, 2022. According to the Chinese state-owned media outlet, the PLA has engaged more than 100 fighter jets and bomber aircraft as well as 10 warships in the waters of the Taiwan Strait.