MOFA response to US National Security Advisor Sullivan stressing cross-strait peace during meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang

August 29, 2024

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Wang Yi, Director of the Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Foreign Affairs Commission and Foreign Minister of China, in Beijing on August 27 and 28. A press release issued afterwards by the White House pointed out that National Security Advisor Sullivan had underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait during the meeting. He emphasized concerns about China's support for Russia's defense industrial base and the effect this was having on European and transatlantic security, as well as about China's destabilizing actions in the South China Sea. He also reaffirmed the US commitment to defending its Indo-Pacific allies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) welcomes staunch US support for maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and appreciates high-level US officials' again expressing this position during interactions with their Chinese counterparts.

In addition, MOFA notes that China again made spurious claims about Taiwan that do not accord with reality in the press release issued following the meeting. MOFA strongly condemns these false narratives and reiterates that neither the Republic of China (Taiwan) nor the People's Republic of China is subordinate to the other. In fact, China's relentless intimidation and suppression of Taiwan and its naked ambition for military expansion pose the greatest risk to regional peace and stability. By accommodating Russia, China has become a key supporter of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, jeopardizing transatlantic security. This also shows that China's ambitions extend beyond Taiwan to other regions, making it a major global threat. China's malicious actions have elicited a high level of concern among the global democratic community.

As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan will continue to enhance its self-defense capabilities and work with the United States and other like-minded partners to jointly safeguard the rules-based international order and preserve peace, stability, and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific.