SINGAPORE (AP) – US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday stressed US support for Taiwan, suggesting to Asia’s main defense forum that recent Chinese military activity around the autonomous island threatens to change the status quo.
Speaking at the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore, Austin noted a “steady increase in provocative and destabilizing military activity near Taiwan,” including near-daily military flights near the island by the People’s Republic of China. China.
“Our policy has not changed, but unfortunately this does not seem to be true for the PRC,” he said.
Austin said Washington remains committed to the “one-China policy,” which recognizes Beijing but allows for informal relations and defense ties with Taipei.
Taiwan and China split during a civil war in 1949, but China claims the island as its own territory and has not ruled out using military force to take it.
China has intensified its military provocations against democratic Taiwan in recent years, with the aim of intimidating it into accepting Beijing’s demands to unite with the communist continent.
“We remain focused on maintaining peace, stability and the status quo in the Taiwan Straits,” Austin said in his speech. “But PRC movements threaten to undermine security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”
He drew a parallel with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying that “the indefensible attack on a peaceful neighbor has galvanized the world and … has reminded us of all the dangers of undermining an international order rooted in the rules and respect “.
Austin said “the rule-based international order matters in both the Indo-Pacific and Europe.”
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is what happens when the oppressors break the rules that protect us all,” he said. “This is what happens when the great powers decide that their imperial appetites are more important than the rights of their peaceful neighbors. And it is a foretaste of a possible world of chaos and unrest in which none of us would want to live. “
Austin met with Chinese Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe on Friday outside the conference room where Taiwan held a prominent position, according to a senior U.S. defense official, who spoke under conditions of anonymity to provide details of the private meeting.
Austin made it clear at the meeting that while the U.S. does not support Taiwan’s independence, it also has major concerns about China’s recent behavior and suggested that Beijing may be trying to change the status quo.
Wei, meanwhile, complained to Austin about new U.S. arms sales to Taiwan announced this week, saying they were “seriously undermining China’s sovereignty and security interests,” according to a CCTV report from China. Chinese state after the meeting.
China “strongly opposes and strongly condemns it,” and the Chinese government and military “will resolutely destroy any Taiwan independence plot and resolutely safeguard the reunification of the motherland,” Wei told Austin.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian quoted Wei as saying China would respond to any move toward Taiwan’s formal independence by “destroying it at any cost, including war.”
In his speech, Austin said the United States is “firmly behind the principle that differences between the Straits must be resolved peacefully,” but that it will also continue to fulfill its commitments to Taiwan.
“This includes helping Taiwan maintain sufficient self-defense capability,” he said.
“And it means maintaining our own ability to resist any use of force or other forms of coercion that may endanger the security or the social or economic system of the people of Taiwan.”
The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, which has governed U.S. relations with the island, does not require the United States to intervene militarily if China invades, but does ensure that U.S. policy ensures that Taiwan has the resources to defend themselves and prevent any unilateral change of status. for Beijing.
Austin stressed the “power of partnerships” and said the US “unprecedented alliance network” in the region has only deepened, noting recent efforts with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. , the ASEAN; the growing importance of the Quad Group in the United States, India, Japan, and Australia; and the trilateral security partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom, known as AUKUS.
He rejected Chinese accusations that the US intends to start an “Asian NATO” with its spread in the Indo-Pacific.
“Let me be clear, we are not looking for confrontations or conflicts and we are not looking for a new Cold War, an Asian NATO or a region divided into hostile blocs,” he said.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told the forum that AUKUS, under which Australia will acquire US nuclear-powered submarines with the help of the United Kingdom, was a technology-sharing relationship and “not in the whole of “arrangements as described by NATO”. ”
Australian abruptly withdrew from an agreement with France for submarines to sign the AUKUS deal, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Saturday that it had agreed to pay 555 million euros ($ 584 million) in compensation to Paris.
The new French Minister of Defense, Sébastien Lecornu, suggested that his country was willing to leave the matter behind, saying that the alliance with Australia was long, recalling the sacrifice of “young Australians who died on French soil during the First World War. ”
“There are ups and downs in all relations between countries, but when there were real dramas, Australia was there,” he said.
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The uprising was reported from Bangkok