The United States has been in talks with Taiwan in recent weeks, as Washington prepared to unveil its strategy on China late Thursday, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
The communications between the U.S. and Taiwan over the past few weeks have been “intense,” in the run-up to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s scheduled speech on China policy, at George Washington University on Thursday at 10 p.m. Taiwan time, MOFA said.
In order to uphold mutual trust and a tacit understanding between the two sides, however, the foreign ministry will not disclose the contents of those discussions, MOFA deputy spokesperson Tsuei Ching-lin (???) said at press briefing, when asked whether Taiwan had been briefed in advance about Blinken’s upcoming speech.
According to the U.S. State Department, Blinken is scheduled to outline U.S. President Joe Biden administration’s policy toward China at 10:00 a.m. Thursday local time at the university in Washington (10:00 p.m. Taiwan time).
The speech, which was postponed from early May after Blinken tested positive for COVID-19, comes on the heels of Biden’s trip to Asia, which was seen as aimed at reinvigorating relationships with the U.S.’s allies to counter China’s influence in the region.
During Biden’s visit to Japan, he said in response to a reporter’s question that the U.S. would be willing to intervene militarily if China was to attack Taiwan.
Biden’s off-the-cuff remarks were interpreted by some a more open commitment of U.S. intervention, or “strategic clarity,” and a deviation from the U.S.’ policy of “strategic ambiguity,” which allows it to remain vague about its response in the event that Taiwan is attacked by China.
On Tuesday, however, Biden stressed that the U.S. policy of strategic ambiguity on Taiwan “has not changed at all,” after he met with his colleagues at the leaders’ summit of the Quad nations, including prime ministers Fumio Kishida of Japan, Anthony Albanese of Australia, and Narendra Modi of India.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel