US Says China Has Rejected Status Quo On Taiwan

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that China has rejected the longstanding status quo on Taiwan, reiterating an assessment that Beijing is speeding up its timeline to take the...

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Wednesday that China rejected the long-standing status quo on Taiwan, reiterating its assessment that Beijing is accelerating its timetable to seize the island.

His remarks came after Chinese President Xi Jinping secured a third historic term and Taiwan expected pressure to intensify on the diplomatic front.

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Blinken said the four-decade status quo — in which the United States only recognizes Beijing but offers the island's weapons to defend it — "helped ensure that there would be no conflict between the United States and China over Taiwan."

"What has changed is this -

"A decision made by the government in Beijing that the status quo is no longer acceptable, and that they want to speed up the process by which they will continue with reunification," Blinken said at a Bloomberg News event.

China has decided to "coerce and make life difficult in a variety of ways in Taiwan in the hope that this will speed up reunification."

, but also with holding on to the possibility, if that does not work, to use force to achieve their goals.”

Blinken, who made a similar assessment in his recent appearance at Stanford University, noted Beijing's deployment of troops and large military exercises in August after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

The top US diplomat said the status quo has also allowed Taiwan, which has become the dominant global power in manufacturing vital advanced semiconductors for cars, appliances and consumer electronics, to thrive.

"If this is disrupted for any reason, it will have very serious consequences for the global economy," Blinken said.

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He said pressure on Taiwan "should be of concern not only to the United States, but to countries not only in the region, but around the world."

Beijing vowed to take control of self-governing Taiwan, where defeated Nationalists fled the mainland in 1949 but has since blossomed into a vibrant democracy.

The United States changed its recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 and now only 14 countries recognize Taiwan.

Taiwan's Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu, said earlier Wednesday that he expected Chinese officials under Xi to make greater efforts to wrest Taipei's ultimate allies.

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