Washington resumes talks with Taipei, China warnings notwithstanding
After a five-year pause, the United States resumes trade talks with Chinese Taipei as Washington moves to boost ties with the self-ruled island despite repeated stark warnings by China.
A statement released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative said that Wednesday's virtual talks "focused on enhancing the longstanding trade and investment relationship between the United States and Taiwan".
Authorities in Chinese Taipei said both sides had agreed to set up working groups for further discussions.
The negotiations were stalled after then US President Barack Obama left office in 2016 and his successor Donald Trump focused on China, the world's second-largest economy.
Relations between Washington and Beijing deteriorated by the end of the turbulent Trump term.
Now President Joe Biden, who has adopted a hostile policy towards China, has revised rules that have blocked direct US dealings with Taipei.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian had earlier this month warned Washington to handle the island’s “issue cautiously, and refrain from sending any wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces.”
The ministry issued the statement after a delegation of three US legislators recently made a stopover in Taipei. The trip caused outrage in China.
Soon after, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken added fuel to the fire by his controversial remarks about plans to begin a trade deal with Taipei.
"We are committed to the proposition that Taiwan must have the means to defend itself,” Blinken told a congressional hearing in Washington on June 7.
The island remains China's most sensitive territorial issue and a major bone of contention with Washington.
Beijing has sovereignty over Chinese Taipei under the "One China" policy, which is in principle recognized by almost all world countries.
Successive US administrations and other Western governments have been seeking independent relations with Chinese Taipei.
The United States has been selling weapons to, staging shows of military force around, and facilitating diplomatic contact with the self-ruled island, in violation of Chinese sovereignty and its own stated policy.
China has in response ramped up military patrols and drills near the island in recent months.
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