US Says Chinese Regime’s Pressure on Taiwan ‘A Threat to All Democracies’

Sandra Oudkirk, the new director of the American Institute in Taiwan, speaks during her first public news conference held in Taipei, Taiwan, on Oct. 29, 2021. American Institute in Taiwan via AP

TAIPEI—The Chinese regime’s diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan represents a threat to all democracies and the United States is committed to helping the island defend itself, Washington’s top diplomat in Taipei said.

Speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan event late on Wednesday, Sandra Oudkirk, director of the American Institute in Taiwan which handles relations in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, said managing U.S. differences with the Chinese regime faces “distinct challenges.”

“The PRC’s increasingly aggressive behaviour is nowhere more evident than in relation to Taiwan, where the PRC has continued to exert military, diplomatic, and economic pressure,” she said, referring to the People’s Republic of China, in remarks released by her office on March 31.

“The PRC’s provocative military activities near Taiwan are destabilizing, risk miscalculation, and undermine regional peace and stability,” Oudkirk added, at the event also attended by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

“Continued efforts by Beijing to choke Taiwan’s international space, pressure its friends, and interfere in Taiwan’s democratic system represent a threat to all democracies.”

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An H-6 bomber of the Chinese army flies near a Taiwan F-16 on Feb. 10, 2020. Taiwan Ministry of National Defense/Handout via Reuters

The communist regime in China claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, and has over the past two years or so ramped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert those claims.

The United States is Taiwan’s most important international supporter and arms supplier, a source of constant friction between Washington and Beijing.

Oudkirk said that in order to strengthen Taiwan’s role as a regional security partner, the United States remains committed to helping Taiwan “maintain its ability to deter aggression and to defend itself.”

“We have a shared and abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. We consider this central to the security and stability of the broader Indo-Pacific region and are deeply concerned by ongoing PRC efforts to undermine that stability.”

An U.S.-made F-16V fighter jet lands on the freeway in Changhua county, central Taiwan, during the 35th Han Kuang drill, on May 28, 2019. Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images

Taiwan rejects the regime’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their own future.

The United States has also been working with Taiwan on supply chains, the island being a major producer of semiconductors.

Oudkirk said both sides were working on diversifying supply chains and to facilitate investment in sectors like chips, electric vehicles, cybersecurity, 5G, and renewable energy.

“AIT’s commercial section is now organizing visits by robust industry-focused delegations to many parts of the United States this summer,” she added, without giving details.

By Ben Blanchard