China has warned US officials to stop “meddling” in Taiwan after a senior Pentagon official touched down in the country. A communist party spokesperson also blamed US officials for starting a “new round of tensions” in the contested Taiwan Strait.
Tensions have between the US and China have escalated in recent weeks after the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4.
The two superpowers locked horns in a tit-for-tat war of words after the incident, with the US warning it would shoot down any Chinese balloons that flew over American skies in future.
At a press conference, Chinese government spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said China “resolutely opposes any official interaction and military collaboration” between the US and Taiwan.
Zhu also told reporters that US attempts to help Taiwan were “doomed to failure” in a fiery rebuke of Michael Chase, deputy assistant secretary of defense for China – the Pentagon official who reportedly visited Taiwan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also blamed the “new round of tensions” in the Taiwan Strait on cooperation between the island and US officials.
The Chinese official said: “We urge the U.S. to … stop any form of official U.S.-Taiwan contacts, stop meddling in the Taiwan issue and stop creating new factors of tension in the Taiwan Strait.”
A Pentagon spokesperson told Associated Press that the US’ commitment to Taiwan was “rock solid”, and argued that America “contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region.”
Speaking to the Express.co.uk on Tuesday, geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman warned that the US, Taiwan and China were “gearing up towards escalation” in the South China Sea.
She added that the US was “increasing is military presence” in the region as China was “brazenly” threatening neighbours.
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Speaking in Poland on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden blasted Putin’s “craven lust for land and power” in a major speech.
He also hit out at the “autocrats in the world” for getting “weaker, not stronger” in a thinly-veiled swipe at China.
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