A senior US official says China should not use the forthcoming US stopover of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen 'as a pretext to step up any aggressive activity around the Taiwan Strait.'
WASHINGTON DC, USA – Expected US stopovers in coming weeks by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen are standard practice and China should not use them as a pretext for aggressive action toward the democratically governed island, a senior US administration official said.
But the senior US official told reporters on a call on Monday night that every president of Taiwan had transited through the US, and that Tsai has done so herself six times since taking office 2016, most recently in 2019. The official said Washington had communicated to Beijing that Tsai’s stopovers are in keeping with past precedent.Noting that President Joe Biden hoped to speak to Chinese leader Xi Jinping soon and that Secretary of State Antony Blinken would like to reschedule a postponed trip to Beijing, the official said: “We urge the PRC to keep these channels of communication open.”
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