Amid mounting tensions with China, the US says it will step up contacts with Taiwan

The United States government announced on Friday that relax the complex requirements your officials face when contacting their counterparts in Taiwan, which represents a rapprochement with the island and, therefore, a new challenge for China amid tensions between the two world powers.

State Department spokesman Ned Price clarified that this does not imply that the North American country is starting to officially recognize Taipei – it stopped doing so in 1979 – but that “the new directives facilitate contacts “with the island.

“The guidelines emphasize that Taiwan is a vibrant democracy and an important economic and security partner, and that it is also a positive force within the international community.Ned Price added.

The announcement comes at a time when Beijing has also increased tensions with Taiwan, which it considers to be part of its territory, in particular by air and naval military maneuvers within or near its territory.

In fact, the Chinese navy said on Tuesday that it would continue to conduct training maneuvers in waters near Taiwan “on a regular basis” and confirmed that the Liaoning aircraft carrier carried out these actions recently.

Likewise, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry announced that a total of 15 Chinese military planes flew over its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Wednesday. And on the same day, Chinese drones were also detected near the disputed Pratas Islands.

China carried out another air raid on Friday, the island’s Defense Ministry reported. Specifically, eleven Chinese Air Force planes flew over its air defense identification area..

In this context, the island’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, assured that the country is “ready to defend itself” and that “there is no doubt that we will wage war if necessary”.

“We are ready to increase our defense budget, reorganize our army or try to strengthen our reserve forces,” Wu said at a press conference with international media. The official also assured that two of his main “allies”, “the United States or Japan, were following the situation closely.”

Two days later, the State Department announced the measure. And shortly before, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Joe Biden administration was closely monitoring the rise of Chinese military activity in the Taiwan Strait, calling Beijing’s recent actions potentially destabilizing.

“We have seen a worrying increase in the military activity of the People’s Republic of China in the Taiwan Strait, which we believe is potentially unsettling. “he said, when asked if Washington was concerned about a possible Chinese invasion.

In this sense, Admiral John Aquilino, appointed the next commander of the Indo-Pacific command of the United States, assured that “China sees control of Taiwan as its top priority “and that a possible invasion is” much closer than many realize.“.

The North American country has also spoken through recent actions in the region. Its military presence in the South China Sea increased on Wednesday when the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island and the amphibious transport ship USS San Diego crossed the Strait of Malacca.

Sailors from USS Makin Island also conducted “a live fire training exercise,” the US Indo-Pacific Command tweeted Thursday, along with a hashtag calling for a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Relations between Taipei and Beijing have cracked since the current Taiwanese president, pro-independence Tsai Ing-wen, came to power in 2016. They continued to increase dramatically during Donald Trump’s tenure (2017-2021), which prioritized strengthening relations with Taiwan – including arms sales – while since 1979 relations between Washington and Taipei are officially informal. And despite the significant change in the nature of government, foreign policy towards China has not fluctuated much.

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