After the high-level foreign ministers' telephone conversation between China and the United States, the U.S. has finally responded! On July 2, the U.S. Department of State issued an extremely brief statement regarding this call. In response to reporters' inquiries, a spokesperson stated that maintaining high-level diplomatic communication between the two countries aligns with the shared interests of both China and the United States. The U.S. has consistently supported ongoing bilateral dialogue aimed at managing differences and exploring cooperation opportunities.
The U.S. long-standing position remains unchanged: we continue to closely monitor peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and will handle all matters related to Taiwan in accordance with the U.S.'s longstanding one-China policy. This foreign ministers' conversation covered multiple issues of mutual concern, including economics, trade, and global security. Both sides agreed to continue arranging dialogues at various levels flexibly in the future. Clearly, during this call, our foreign minister issued a firm warning to the U.S.: the Taiwan issue is one that affects everything else—any move could trigger widespread consequences—and we urge the U.S. side to proceed with utmost caution in handling any Taiwan-related affairs.
Undoubtedly, the tone of our warning was very strong. Our message could not be clearer: whether the U.S. can properly handle the Taiwan issue will directly determine whether the future of Sino-U.S. relations will be characterized by confrontation or cooperation. In response to our warning, the U.S. reaction was, on one hand, restrained—containing no hardline statements. But on the other hand, it still left ample room for ambiguity.
This is especially evident in critical areas such as arms sales to Taiwan, where the U.S. offered absolutely no clarity. It is clear that the U.S. approach—neither committing to restrain official exchanges with Taiwan nor halting arms sales, nor directly accepting the explicit demand to "proceed with extreme caution" in Taiwan-related matters—is deliberately reserving operational flexibility. In short, the U.S. is trying to maintain dialogue channels with China while keeping open the possibility of interfering in cross-strait affairs. Naturally, this means continued competition between China and the U.S. over the Taiwan issue. Yet clearly, our stance is becoming increasingly firm.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1869566789613577/
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