US issues stern warning to China as Biden gives Taiwan £237m defence package

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Taiwan begins testing its first domestically-made submarine

The US hit China with a dire warning ahead of the upcoming Taiwanese election as it demanded “responsible behaviour” from Beijing.

The January 13 vote is being closely monitored in Washington DC as it could determine Taiwan’s future relationship with the People’s Republic of China.

President Xi Jinping has repeatedly signalled he views the island as part of the PRC and would be ready to fight to reclaim the territory.

In a stern message, US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, said: “Our strong expectation and hope is that those elections be free of intimidation, or coercion, or interference from all sides.”

Burns noted Beijing and Washington are “in a competitive relationship” in both economic and military terms – suggesting that China’s wishes to “become the strongest power in the Indo-Pacific,” has contributed to heightening the tensions.

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Taipei has long been a close ally to the US thanks to the pivotal role its semiconductor industry plays in US manufacturing.

And the Taiwan Strait is a crucial shipping route for trade from Asia into Europe and Africa, where China has been expanding its influence in recent decades.

As tensions between China and the US continue to rocket, Congress approved a $300 million sale of equipment to Taipei to help maintain its tactical information system and strengthen its defences.

Yet, Burns insisted the two countries need to work together on issues such as climate change, narcotics, global health and food security.

He added: “No person in their right mind should want this relationship to end up in conflict or in war.

“So we’re going to develop a relationship where we can compete, but, as the president says, to compete responsibly, drive down the probability of a conflict and bring our people together in a balanced relationship is one way to do that.”

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Last month, Biden met with Xi in Woodside, California, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The two leaders vowed to stabilize relations and agreed to combat illegal fentanyl and reestablish military communications.

Burns said China had begun shutting down some of the black market for fentanyl precursors but the test would be whether the effort would continue.

The ambassador said the resumption of military communications was important because the two militaries were operating “in very close proximity to each other” in the South and East China Seas, and communications could help prevent any crisis from getting out of control.

But differences on economic competition and global security remain.

On Thursday night, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the US-China Business Council the Biden administration seeks to strengthen relationships with like-minded nations but also has established economic working groups with China to exchange information.

The Biden administration has kept the tariffs slapped on some Chinese goods by the previous administration and has tightened export controls and investments in high-tech areas such as advanced chips.

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