A top State Department official said American policy would continue “to ensure that Taiwan’s people can continue along their chosen path, free from coercion.”
TAIPEI, Taiwan — A State Department official on Wednesday reasserted America’s commitment to Taiwan’s defense at a dinner attended by its president, a day after China’s leader issued a stern warning against any challenges to China’s claim to the island.
“The aim of U. S. policy is to ensure that Taiwan’s people can continue along their chosen path, free from coercion,” the official, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alex Wong, said at the banquet in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, as President Tsai Ing-wen looked on.
Speaking to 700 people, including representatives of top American companies and senior Taiwanese officials, at an American Chamber of Commerce function, Mr. Wong said the United States wanted “to strengthen our ties with the Taiwan people and to bolster Taiwan’s ability to defend its democracy.”
“Our commitment to those goals has never been stronger,” added Mr. Wong, whose remarks came less than week after President Trump, over China’s objection, signed the Taiwan Travel Act, a measure encouraging official, high-level visits between the United States and Taiwan.
On Tuesday, President Xi Jinping of China issued a thinly veiled threat to Washington and Taipei during a speech to the National People’s Congress in Beijing. “Any actions and tricks to split China are doomed to failure,” Mr. Xi said in a stridently nationalistic speech, “and will meet with the people’s condemnation and punishment of history.”
The National People’s Congress this month removed term limits on Mr. Xi’s presidency, setting up the possibility he may hold the top posts of China’s government, military and the Communist Party for life.
In Taipei, Mr. Wong praised Taiwan’s democratic path and took a shot at Mr. Xi’s tightening grip on power. “Dynamic, broad-based and sustainable growth can never hinge on the whim of a dictator,” he said.
Hours after Mr. Xi’s speech, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning traveled through the Taiwan Strait, according to a statement issued by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense. Passing through the strait is increasingly commonplace for the Liaoning, though the Taiwanese ministry noted that the carrier stayed on the Chinese side and exhibited no unusual behavior.
The People’s Republic of China, as China is formally known, claims Taiwan as its sovereign territory.
