PRC holds U.S. responsible for failed defense ministers' meeting

TheUS cannot damage China's core interests on the Taiwan issue and communicate with the Chinese military at the same time. This was stated on Thursday, November 21, by Wu Qian, spokesman for the republic's Defense Ministry.

He noted that the talks between representatives of the Chinese and US defense ministries in Laos did not take place due to the fault of the US side.

"The US cannot, on the one hand, harm China's indigenous interests in the Taiwan issue and, on the other hand, hold contacts with the PRC army as if nothing happened," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

Qian called on the US to correct the mistakes made and provide conditions for further dialog and information exchange between the armed forces of the two countries at the highest level.

Earlier, on November 17, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Lima on the sidelines of the APEC summit that Washington should observe red lines in US-China relations. They concern the issue of Taiwan, the democracy and human rights situation in the republic, China's path and the right to development.

Before that, on November 13, Beijing accused Washington of using Taiwan to contain the PRC. The U.S. ban on TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) from supplying some advanced microchips from the island of Taiwan to mainland China raises tensions in the region, China believed.

The escalation of the conflict between China and Taiwan came after the visit to the island by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August 2022. The Chinese side considers Taiwan to be its own territory, so it views visits to the island by officials from other countries as support for Taiwan's independence.

Official relations between the PRC government and its island province broke down in 1949 when the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, who lost in a civil war with the Communist Party of China, moved to Taiwan. Contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s. The U.S. openly supports the Taiwanese authorities.