TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan and the United States sign their first agreement with the Biden administration to set up a coastguard working group to coordinate policy after China adopts a law allowing coastguards to fire on ships foreign.
The new government of the US President, Joe Biden, has moved to reassure Taiwan, claimed by China, that its commitment to the island is solid.
Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States, Hsiao Bi-khim, signed the agreement in Washington on Thursday, his office said in a statement.
“We hope that with the new Coast Guard working group, both sides will build a stronger partnership and contribute together even more to a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”
Sung Kim, interim assistant to the secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, attended the signing ceremony, the bureau said.
The American Institute in Taiwan, which manages US ties to the island, said the United States had supported “Taiwan’s significant participation and contributions to issues of global concern, including maritime security and safety.”
Taiwan is modernizing its coastguards with new ships, which can be recruited into the naval service in the event of war, as the island deals with increasing violations by Chinese fishing boats and sand dredgers in Taiwan-controlled waters.
While the United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, they are the island’s most important international support and arms supplier.
China passed a law in January that explicitly allows its coastguard for the first time to fire on foreign ships, causing regional and Washington concern. China has rejected these concerns.
Taiwan’s Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang said on Friday that China’s new law shocked the region and that those with “common values” must work together to protect peace.
“This unilateral request for the Coast Guard to use force will cause great tensions and pressures on neighboring countries,” he told reporters.
China also has disputes over maritime sovereignty with Japan in the East China Sea and with several Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea.
Ben Blanchard’s report