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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris condemned on Wednesday “disturbing” actions by China in the Pacific while pledging to deepen “unofficial ties” with Taiwan, days after the U.S. administration pledged its forces would defend the island.
Harris made her remarks on the deck on the USS Howard destroyer during a visit to the largest overseas U.S. Navy installation in the world at Yokosuka, near the Japanese capital.
“China is undermining key elements of the international rules-based order,” said Harris, who is on a four-day trip to Asia.
“China has flexed its military and economic might to coerce and intimidate its neighbors. And we have witnessed disturbing behavior in the East China Sea and in the South China Sea, and most recently, provocations across the Taiwan Strait.”
The remarks to American sailors wearing dress whites come after U.S. President Joe Biden pledged in an interview aired on Sept. 18 to defend the self-ruled island of Taiwan against an “unprecedented attack.”
The United States subscribes to a “one China” policy that formally recognizes only Beijing but binds the U.S. government to provide democratically ruled Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
The Chinese communist regime claims the island as its own, despite Taiwan being a de facto independent country, with its own military, democratically-elected government, and constitution.
