(Washington) China demanded that the United States stop its “wrong words and deeds”, while Washington denounced the “destabilizing” activities of Beijing near Taiwan, during a long telephone interview Thursday between ministers Chinese Defense and its American counterpart.
Posted on August 6 2020 at 15 h 56
France Media Agency
The Chinese Minister of Defense, General “Wei Fenghe, demanded from the United States that they put an end to their words and erroneous acts”, indicated the New China agency, during one of the rare direct conversations between senior officials of the two countries.
Pentagon chief Mark Esper expressed concern about China's destabilizing activities around Taiwan, in the South China Sea, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said, adding that the interview lasted an hour and a half.
Beijing and Washington are at daggers drawn on many issues, including the upcoming and historic visit to Taiwan by a US secretary.
The United States will send the Secretary of Health, Alex Azar, to Taipei. He will head the most eminent delegation since 1979, when the Americans cut off diplomatic relations with the island in order to recognize the People's Republic of China based in Beijing.
This visit is considered a provocation by the Communist government, which considers Taiwan as part of Chinese territory and opposes any official link between the authorities on the island and foreign countries.
Bilateral tensions are also high around the South China Sea. The islands of this vast maritime zone are claimed almost entirely by Beijing.
“Dangerous initiatives”
The United States contest these claims considered excessive compared to other countries (Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei) and regularly cross warships or aircraft carriers in the region, in the name of freedom. navigation “.
The US Defense Minister stressed “the importance for China to respect international laws, rules and standards and to fulfill its commitments,” Hoffman added during a press conference.
Mr. Esper, who announced his intention to visit China by the end of the year, also recalled the need for “constructive, stable and productive defense relations between the United States and China”, continued the spokesperson.
No date has yet been set for this trip, which would be the first since Jim Mattis visited Beijing in June 2018.
According to New China, Wei Fenghe also called on Washington “to strengthen its risk management at sea, to refrain from taking dangerous initiatives that could cause an escalation, and to maintain regional peace and stability”.
Earlier Thursday, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, had promised during a regular press briefing “firm and vigorous reprisals” to the visit of the US Minister of Health to Taiwan.
This dispute adds to the long list of areas of friction between China and the United States in recent months: management of COVID – 15, Huawei, treatment of Uyghur Muslims, TikTok app, Hong Kong National Security Law.
