Case of Frenemies

Taiwan regional authorities has also signed billions in contracts with the US for latest-generation F-16V fighter jets, M1 Abrams main battle tanks, and the HIMARS rocket system.

Over the weekend, the US House of Representatives approved a $8 billion defense package for countering China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific, including aid to Taiwan. The package will “strengthen the deterrence against authoritarianism in the West Pacific ally chain,” said Taiwan’s regional leader Lai Ching-te on Tuesday, in reference to China.

The US military assistance package was part of a larger $95 billion sum to aid Ukraine, Israel, as well as Taiwan. And as part of the foreign aid package, congress also passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok nationwide due to fears of Chinese espionage or Chinese influence on American users of the app.

Meanwhile, China has lambasted the decision on Wednesday, suggesting that such funding would push the island territory into a “dangerous situation”.

“We firmly oppose the inclusion of Taiwan-related content in the relevant bill of the US Congress,” Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters in Beijing. “It sends a wrong signal to the Taiwan separatist forces. We urge the US side to fulfill its commitment not to support Taiwan independence with concrete actions and stop arming Taiwan in any way.”

On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The meeting came after a three-day visit to China that was reportedly hijacked by contentious issues between the two countries, with China even warning Blinken of a “downward spiral” in their relations.

Xi said the two countries “should be partners rather than adversaries”, and recognized this year as the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the US and China. Xi added that the world is “big enough” to accommodate “the simultaneous development and prosperity of both China and the US”.

Blinken also said that the US did not aim to hold China’s development or separate the world’s two largest economies, and that the US wants China’s economy to grow but the “way” it grows “matters”. The secretary of state cited what the US has called “unfair trade practices” by China and the possibility of the US and other markets being flooded with Chinese products.

Blinken has also made a groundless accusation against China of being Russia’s “top supplier” for their defense industrial base as the US continues its support of Ukraine in a proxy war with Russia.

The countries also discussed next steps regarding a range of commitments that Xi and President Joe Biden made at their summit in California in November, including advancing cooperation on counternarcotics, military-to-military communication, talks on artificial intelligence risks and safety, and people to people exchanges, according to a State Department readout.