The United States is Taiwan’s main international supporter and arms supplier, although it does not have formal diplomatic relations. China considers Taiwan to be Chinese territory and has repeatedly asked the US to stop aid.
The support for Taiwan is part of a large package of 95 billion dollars of security assistance to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and US allies in the Pacific.
– We are very happy that the Senate has approved these proposals, Tsai said when she received American elected representatives at the presidential office in the island’s capital, Taipei, on Wednesday.
China reacts with anger
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office expresses anger with aid package. They say it “sends the wrong signal to Taiwanese separatist forces” and that they strongly oppose it, according to spokesman Zhu Fenglian.
This therefore happens shortly before the two countries are to meet in Beijing.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting China in an attempt to stabilize relations between the two superpowers.
The last time the US Secretary of State visited Beijing was last June, and tensions between the world’s two largest economies have eased noticeably since then.
In November, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited his American counterpart Joe Biden in California. Among other things, the two agreed to restore contact between their respective defences.
Xi also promised to control the sale of chemicals used in the production of fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid that many Americans have become addicted to in recent years.
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Concern in the United States
The tense situation between Beijing and Taiwan will also be a topic during the talks, as will the US’s accusations that the authorities in Beijing are giving Chinese industry unfair advantages through subsidies.
The US is also deeply concerned about China’s cooperation with Russia. Beijing does not supply the country with weapons, but the Americans strongly resent Chinese raw materials and technology finding their way into the Russian arms industry.
– If China on the one hand wants good relations with Europe and other countries, they cannot at the same time be a supplier to Russia, which poses the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War, Blinken said last week.
Blinken begins its visit to China in Shanghai on Wednesday, while the meetings with Chinese leaders will take place in Beijing on Friday.
Also read: Zelenskyj thanks the US Senate after aid resolution
