Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with US President Joe Biden at Filoli Estate in the US state of California on November 15, 2023.
Li Xueren | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
Beijing sent dozens of military planes and naval ships to Taiwan on Friday, the same day as a low-profile meeting between U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi aimed at stabilizing U.S.-China relations.
From 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday local time, China reportedly sent 33 military aircraft and six warships to Taiwan. Ministry of Defense of Taiwan. Thirteen planes crossed the Taiwan Strait.
The stepped-up military pressure comes as the United States and China are trying to get relations back on track after a frosty couple of years. For example, in their meeting, Sullivan and Wang confirmed plans to launch a collaborative U.S.-China “Anti-Drug Working Group” on Tuesday to address the fentanyl crisis.
“Mr. Sullivan emphasized during the meeting that the United States and the People’s Republic of China are in competition, but the United States does not seek conflict or confrontation, and there are areas of cooperation in the relationship,” a senior officer said Saturday administration official.
But China’s military moves in the past 24 hours could complicate hopes for cooperation.
China’s approach to Taiwan, which it considers its territory, is a flashpoint in its precarious relationship with the United States, which believes in Taiwan maintaining its self-governing status. The contentious issue comes up in nearly every U.S.-China meeting, including high-profile talks between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November.
During their two-day meeting in Bangkok on Thursday and Friday, Sullivan and Wang talked about reopening military-to-military communications, curbing the flow of fentanyl and mitigating the risks of artificial intelligence.
Sullivan also reiterated the United States’ position on maintaining the status quo of Taiwan’s sovereignty. But China has repeatedly rejected the US position and openly expressed its intention to “reunify” Taiwan with the mainland.
China’s military pressure on Taiwan comes during what senior administration officials have called “a period of heightened tension.”
Taiwanese voters recently elected Democratic Progressive Party candidate Lai Ching-te as the next president. Lai was China’s least favored candidate due to his support for maintaining Taiwan’s status quo.
Ahead of that election, the United States braced for a series of responses from China.
“Whenever we move into a period of heightened tension, of course there are always emergency conversations in the United States government,” a senior administration official said at the time.
“I don’t want to go into detail about these, but obviously we have to be prepared and think about every eventuality … ranging from no response to the highest goal.”