China said it will continue to work for “peaceful reunification” with the democratically-governed island and pledged to take forceful action to oppose any outside interference, a thinly-veiled reference to Washington, while Russia accused the United States on Saturday of “playing with fire” around Taiwan.
After US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August, which was followed by extensive Chinese military exercises and a commitment by US President Joe Biden to protect the island that China claims as its own, tensions between Washington and Beijing have increased.
Weeks before the February invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin, he and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping announced a “no boundaries” alliance and pledged to work together more against the West.
In his Saturday address to the United Nations General Assembly, Sergei Lavrov, the top diplomat for Putin, took aim at both Washington’s position on Taiwan and the Western sanctions imposed on Moscow as a result of the war in Ukraine.
They are experimenting with fire in Taiwan. Additionally, they pledge to help Taiwan militarily, according to Lavrov.
Putin supports China over Taiwan outright. Putin declared last week, “We plan to strongly stick to the idea of ‘One China’.” We denounce the United States and their satellites’ provocations in the Taiwan Strait.
When asked last week whether US military would protect Taiwan in a CBS 60 Minutes interview, Biden responded: “Yes, if there was an extraordinary attack.”
His most direct comment about sending US soldiers to defend the island to date. Additionally, it seemed to go beyond a well-established US policy of “strategic ambiguity,” which leaves it unclear whether the US would use military force to defend Taiwan.
