US To Send Aircraft And Warships To Taiwan Strait, Boost Trade With Taiwan

On August 12, Kurt Campbell, Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs, said during a press call with reporters that the US will continue to support Taiwan in line with the long-standing policy, and one of the actions is “conducting standard air and maritime transit” in the Taiwan Strait over the next few weeks. USS Ronald Reagan leads the Ronald Reagan Strike group during a photo exercise for Valiant Shield 2018 (Photo Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Erwin Miciano, Photo Source: wsws.org)

The White House assesses that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s military provocation in the Taiwan Strait will continue for weeks to months. Campbell accused the CCP of overreacting to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. And he also said that such irresponsible actions by the CCP will raise tensions across the Taiwan Strait and deviate from the goal of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

Campbell reiterated that the United States will fulfil its commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act, that the United States will continue to assist Taiwan in improving its self-defense capabilities, and will maintain its own capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize Taiwan’s security, economy, or society.

Campbell said the administration would continue to “deepen our ties with Taiwan, including through continuing to advance our economic and trade relationship”. He revealed that “an ambitious road map for trade negotiations” with Taiwan would be announced “in the coming days”.