Beijing intensifies military pressure on Taiwan as US-China talks resume

Taipei [Taiwan] : Taiwan’s Defence Ministry has said China sent 33 aircraft, including SU-30 fighters and six navy vessels, around the island nation between 6 am on Friday to 6 am on Saturday, Al Jazeera reported. 

Among the 33 aircraft sent, 13 warplanes crossed the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary between Taiwan and China. 

This comes as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday stressed that “Taiwan’s independence” poses the biggest risk to China-US ties, as per Al Jazeera. 

The Chinese Foreign Minister met United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday, just more than two months after US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. 

The two “had candid, substantive, and fruitful strategic communication on implementing the consensus reached at the San Francisco meeting… and on properly handling important and sensitive issues in China-US relations,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement, as per Al Jazeera. 

The White House said that the meeting between the officials was “part of the effort to maintain open lines of communication” between the two countries. 

It added that “Sullivan stressed that although the United States and China are in competition, both countries need to prevent it from veering into conflict or confrontation.” 
Beijing and Washington have previously clashed on issues related to technology, trade, human rights, and Taiwan, which China claims as its territory. 

Meanwhile, the recent Taiwanese election saw the Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) secure a third term. The DPP is resistant to China’s claim over Taiwan. 

This week, two US lawmakers met Taiwan’s new leader, Lai Ching-te, to reaffirm Washington’s support for the self-governing island. 

This was the second group to arrive in Taiwan since the election, after Biden sent an unofficial delegation to congratulate Lai two days after the vote, as per Al Jazeera. 
As per China’s foreign ministry, Wang stressed in the meeting with Sullivan that Taiwan was “China’s internal affair, and the regional election in Taiwan cannot change the basic reality that Taiwan is part of China.” 

“The biggest risk to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is the so-called ‘Taiwan independence’ movement. The biggest challenge to China-US relations is also the ‘Taiwan independence’ movement,” it added, according to Al Jazeera.