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China warns US against support for Taiwan

CHINA warned the United States today against undermining democracy and continuing support for Taiwanese independence after a US delegation visited the island in defiance of “blunt” warnings to call off the trip.

A bipartisan group from the US House of Representatives arrived on the breakaway island on Thursday to meet the Taipei leadership, holding talks with President Tsai Ing Wen and other senior officials.

California Congressman Mark Takano, who led the delegation, said that the meeting had gone ahead to “remind our partners and allies, after two trying years that we’ve endured, that our commitment and shared responsibility for a free and secure Indo-Pacific region remain stronger than ever.”

He added that the US relationship with Taiwan was “rock solid and has remained steadfast as the ties between us have deepened.”

The trip was the third by a delegation of US legislators this year as Taiwan becomes the new focal point of Washington’s cold war against China.

Tensions between Beijing and Taipei are at their highest for more than 40 years, officials have said, as the US is accused of deliberate provocations to undermine Chinese sovereignty.

Taiwan was the only province of China to remain under the control of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party after communist revolution swept the country in 1949.

In 1950, the US navy’s seventh fleet prevented the communists carrying the revolution across the Taiwan Strait and the island has been self-governing ever since.

But it remains an integral part of China, as is recognised by most of the international community.

Ms Tsai, however, welcomed the meeting, which saw discussions held on increased economic and trade co-operation, reiterating Taiwan’s alignment with the US.

“Taiwan will continue to step up co-operation with the United States in order to uphold our shared values of freedom and democracy and to ensure peace and stability in the region,” she said.

US President Joe Biden has played down allegations that he is fuelling Taiwanese separatism, but this appears incongruent with his actions.

Next month, he will host a “Summit for Democracy” and has invited Taipei officials to attend, a move that has angered Beijing.

On Thursday, Chinese military spokesman Wu Qian said that his country was ready to “smash” Taiwanese separatism after a US defence report accused Beijing of waging a “grey war” aimed at subduing the island’s population.

Mr Wu dismissed the report’s claims as nonsense, reaffirming Taiwan’s status an “an inalienable part of China” and warning: “The Chinese People's Liberation Army is ready at all times to fight and smash any separatist attempts.”

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