In front of the Asean, Joe Biden criticizes the “coercive” actions of China in the Strait of Taiwan

Published on : 10/28/2021 – 01:50

US President Joe Biden once again sided with Taiwan in a message to 38^e summit organized by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Wednesday October 27. Speaking via video link, he said the United States was “deeply concerned about China’s coercive and aggressive actions … in the Taiwan Strait,” which separates mainland China from Taiwan.

Tensions have increased in this area with the increase in Chinese air raids near Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a province to be reunited, if necessary by force, to China.

Such actions “threaten regional peace and stability,” added the US president according to a recording of his remarks obtained by AFP.

On the same day, in an interview broadcast by CNN, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said she had “confidence, given our long-standing relationship with the United States, as well as the support of the American people. , Congress and administration “.

The East Asia summit, which is being held in virtual form this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, brings together eighteen countries from the Asia-Pacific region. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is attending, as are Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of South Korea and Japan.

Taiwan’s “confidence” in Washington

American critics have precedents. Joe Biden last week said on television that the United States was ready to defend the island in the event of an attack from China.

And on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for Taiwan’s “significant participation” within the institutions of the United Nations (UN), triggering a controversy with China.

“Taiwan has no right to participate in the UN,” retorted the next day in Beijing the spokesperson for the Office of Taiwanese Affairs, Ma Xiaoguang, recalling that only sovereign states can join.

Human rights and maritime ambitions mentioned

President Biden also targeted Beijing’s maritime ambitions on Wednesday, stressing that the United States was “fully engaged” in the defense of “freedom of navigation, open waterways, unimpeded commercial traffic, including in the South China Sea “.

The South China Sea and its islands are the subject of competing claims from China and several Southeast Asian countries.

The United States will also discuss “human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet, and the rights of the people of Hong Kong.”

Burma, a country in crisis since the seizure of power by the military junta in February, was at the center of the meeting. The United States “stand alongside the people of Burma and call on the military regime to end the violence, release all political prisoners and return to the path of democracy,” said the US president.

With AFP