The recent Chinese actions around House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan are fundamentally at odds with the goal of peace and stability, the White House said on Friday, adding that Beijing is going to continue its pressure campaign against Taiwan.
"China's actions are fundamentally at odds with the goal of peace and stability. They are part of an intensified pressure campaign against Taiwan, which has not ended, and we expect it to continue to unfold in the coming weeks and months. The goal of this campaign is clear -- to intimidate and coerce Taiwan and undermine its resilience," Kurt Campbell, deputy assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Indo Pacific, told reporters during a conference call.
The United States, he said, will continue to take calm and resolute steps to uphold peace and stability in the face of Beijing's ongoing efforts to undermine it, and to support Taiwan, in line with its longstanding policy.
"These steps, across a range of areas, will unfold over the coming weeks and months because the challenge is long term. We will not be reflexive or knee-jerk, we will be patient and effective," Campbell said.
America, he said, will continue to fly, sail and operate where international law allows, consistent with its longstanding commitment to freedom of navigation, and that includes conducting standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks.
"We will continue to fulfil our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act. That includes supporting Taiwan's self-defence and maintaining our own capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardise Taiwan's security, economy or society," Campbell said.
Referring to the Chinese decisions to suspend climate change talks with the US and closing other channels of communications, Campbell called on Beijing to reopen those channels.
There are a large number of countries that are keenly interested in preserving that peace and stability, he said in response to a question, adding, "I will leave it at that, in terms of our consultations and engagements with those partners, specifically."
"The Taiwan Relations Act requires us to provide appropriate defensive articles and capabilities to Taiwan. And those articles are designed to most effectively engage on those defence issues that are related to the evolving security circumstances that Taiwan faces," Campbell noted.
