Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao website published a question titled "Us Indo-Pacific 'Tsar' Campbell Answers Question: How Deep Is the United States' Love for Taiwan?" The article said that Campbell, the coordinator of U.S. Indo-Pacific Affairs, expressed his support for Taiwan independence at an online discussion, and the article believes that he expressed his official position, and the full text is excerpted as follows:
Campbell, the Coordinator of Indo-Pacific Affairs who was described by the Taiwan media as the "Tsar" of the United States in the Indo-Pacific, publicly stated that he did not support Taiwan independence. This is the first time that a senior White House official has clearly drawn a red line on the issue of Taiwan independence since US President Biden took office.
When Campbell attended an online seminar hosted by the Asia Society, an American think tank, on the 6th, he was asked how much love the United States has for Taiwan.
In response, Campbell said: "We support a strong U.S.-Taiwan unofficial relationship, and we do not support Taiwan independence." ”
In response, he also said several times that he would be very careful to answer, saying that Washington "fully recognizes and understands the sensitivity of this issue," showing that although the conversation took place at a think tank, the content was a carefully worded expression of official position.
After the Biden administration came to power, it coordinated with allies to continuously put pressure on Beijing on the Taiwan issue, which has maintained a high degree of heat on the Taiwan Strait issue in the international media.
Since the beginning of this year, the US-Japan leaders' summit, the US-ROK leaders' summit, and the Japan-Australia "2+2" talks, which have been led or influenced by the United States, have all mentioned the importance of peace and security in the Taiwan Strait. The joint communiqué of the G7 leaders' summit also includes the Taiwan Strait issue for the first time in history, and the trend of internationalization of the Taiwan issue is becoming more and more obvious.
Recently, a number of senior officials from Japan, a close ally of the United States, have also made statements to annoy Beijing on the Taiwan issue.
Washington itself has constantly tested the continental bottom line. The DPP authorities in Taiwan, which are deeply involved in the epidemic, earlier "wanted to meet and reject" the German Baintec vaccine represented by mainland enterprises, and the United States appeared on the stage to donate the Modena vaccine to Taiwan. Last month, US senators also flew to Taiwan in a rare US Air Force transport plane, and the practice of sending military planes to land in Taiwan was described by public opinion as "the TACTICS and Taiwanese cutting sausages have once again made a knife closer to the finger."
In addition, the United States and Taiwan have resumed talks on a five-year trade and investment structure agreement, paving the way for strengthening bilateral trade cooperation.
Just when all sides are discussing that Washington may abandon the "strategic ambiguity" on the Taiwan issue for many years, Campbell has given a particularly clear Washington position on whether the United States supports "Taiwan independence": that is, Washington will only recognize "one China", and the US-Taiwan relationship is good, it will always be an unofficial relationship.
For Washington, if the two sides of the strait are deadlocked, Taiwan can play a strategic role in containing Beijing, but Washington is also well aware that if something happens in the Taiwan Strait, the United States will also be in trouble. Therefore, Washington has always been aware of Beijing's red line on the Taiwan issue, and once it goes too far, it will recycle it in time.
Campbell said that he supports the United States and Taiwan in maintaining unofficial relations and does not support Taiwan independence, which has drawn a red line for US-Taiwan relations; while stopping Taiwan from dragging the United States into the water in the cross-strait conflict, he also sends a signal to Beijing that the Biden administration will unite with allies to suppress Chinese mainland.
Campbell's statement this time is also at a delicate point in time. Although the relationship between China and the United States is tense, Washington has recently sent signals on many occasions that it is trying to bring the leaders of both sides into contact.
He said he believed that both leaders would be assessed and that his expectation was that some kind of engagement would take place in the near future. Since this is the case, it is necessary to put aside the relations between the United States and the Taiwan region and create a more appropriate atmosphere for a possible meeting between the Leaders of China and the United States.
In the ultimate game between Beijing and Washington, Taiwan has always been just a pawn used by Washington to balance Beijing, used to maintain the "status quo" that Washington needs in a given situation; Washington will not let the pawn become a stumbling block to U.S. policy or formal U.S.-China diplomatic relations.
Source: Reference News Network