US defense delegation visits Taiwan as China denounces trip | News | DW

A delegation of former US protection chiefs arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday, amid protests from China concerning the nature of the go to. The delegation was despatched by US President Joe Biden.

The Taiwanese authorities welcomed it, saying the journey would permit “an in-depth alternate of views on Taiwan-US cooperation points in varied fields.”

All of it comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has reignited fears over China’s geopolitical ambitions concerning Taiwan.

Beijing has not condemned Russia’s battle towards Ukraine and its criticism of the heavy sanctions which were leveled towards Moscow is broadly seen as an indication of dedication to the 2 international locations’ mutual defiance of Washington and the West.

Biden’s delegation follows the development of his predecessors, who’ve routinely maintained contacts between Taiwan and each serving and retired administration officers.

Bush and Obama administration officers

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers Mike Mullen leads the five-person delegation, which is able to meet President Tsai Ing-wen and different high officers over two days. The members have been greeted at Taipei’s Songshan Airport by Taiwanese Minister of Overseas Affairs Joseph Wu.

Mullen is a retired Navy admiral who served as the highest US navy officer underneath former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He’s joined by Meghan O’Sullivan, a former deputy nationwide safety adviser underneath Bush, and Michele Flournoy, a former undersecretary of protection underneath Obama.

Mike Inexperienced and Evan Medeiros, each former Nationwide Safety Council senior administrators for Asia, additionally flew to Taiwan. A US official instructed Reuters that the group’s go to was meant to “reveal our continued sturdy help for Taiwan.”

China: US efforts are “doomed to fail”

China at present claims the democratically ruled island as a part of its personal territory and has vowed to convey it underneath Chinese language management. Beijing has all the time protested US contacts with Taiwan’s authorities and did so once more on Tuesday. 

“The need of the Chinese language individuals to defend our nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is immovable. Whoever [the] United States sends to point out help for Taiwan is sure to fail,” Chinese language Overseas Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated of the go to.

Wang dismissed the go to, saying it was “futile for the US to ship anybody to reveal its so-called help for Taiwan,” 

China sees Taiwan as essentially the most delicate and vital concern in its ties with the US. Wang urged Washington to “cease all types of official alternate with Taiwan, and deal with Taiwan-related points with warning in order to keep away from additional critical injury to the general state of affairs of China-US relations.”

jcg/rc (AP, Reuters)