On Wednesday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office described remarks made by the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell as dangerous. This came after Campbell proposed that the AUKUS submarine partnership between Australia, Britain, and the U.S. could act as a deterrent against any potential aggressive moves by China towards Taiwan.
“His remarks are very dangerous,” said spokesperson Zhu Fenglian when responding to a query at a weekly press conference.
“The establishment of the so-called trilateral security partnership between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia is essentially to provoke military confrontation in the region through military cooperation in small circles.”
Campbell, who made a rare linkage between Taiwan and AUKUS, told Washington’s Center for a New American Security think tank that new submarine capabilities would enhance peace and stability, including in the strait that separates China and Taiwan.
“Any attempt to use relevant military cooperation to intervene in the Taiwan issue is to interfere in China’s internal affairs, violate the one-China principle, and endanger peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. We firmly oppose,” Zhu said.
In 2021, the United States, Britain, and Australia established the AUKUS alliance as a strategy to counter China’s expanding influence in the Indo-Pacific area. China has criticised the AUKUS agreement as hazardous and cautioned that it might trigger an arms race in the region.
Both Taiwan and China assert sovereignty over the majority of the South China Sea. In recent years, China has significantly increased its collection of warships and missiles. Additionally, it has conducted major land reclamation projects on its islands in the South China Sea, where it has constructed significant military installations, including air force bases. These actions have raised significant concerns in Washington and across the region.
With Inputs from Reuters
