Senior officials from the United States and Germany have reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. According to a U.S. State Department press release on Thursday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and German Foreign Office State Secretary Thomas Bagger discussed the issue during a recent phone call.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that this follows the release of a U.S.-European Union joint statement reaffirming the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait in February as well as similar discussions among the foreign ministers of the U.S., Japan, and South Korea on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The ministry says the reaffirmation by senior U.S. officials publicly conveys the importance of supporting the current status of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait among like-minded partners. It adds that China's recent gray zone offensive, including the unilateral cancellation of the cross-strait agreement on the M503 route and provocative actions in Kinmen waters, are intended to undermine the current situation in the Taiwan Strait, posing severe challenges to regional security and drawing concern from the international community.
The ministry says Taiwan will closely collaborate with like-minded partners in the U.S., Europe, and the Indo-Pacific region to uphold a rules-based international order and safeguard peace, stability, and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and the region.