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A top White House official says the United States will conduct various maritime and air transits in the Taiwan Strait as tensions in the region continue to be elevated.

Kurt Campbell, the White House coordinator for Asia-Pacific issues and adviser to President Joe Biden, said “The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate where international law allows, consistent with our longstanding commitment to freedom of navigation. That includes conducting standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks.”

Kurt Campbell

When pressed by reporters if the move would result in elevated tensions in the region, Campbell dismissed the idea saying that elevated tensions were at the fault of China. Campbell added “China used the pretext of Speaker Pelosi’s visit to launch an intensified pressure campaign against Taiwan to try to change the status quo, jeopardizing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region. Simply put, China overreacted and its actions continue to be provocative, destabilizing, and unprecedented.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington DC previously released a statement regarding US military movement in the region, accusing the United States of trying to “flexing muscles, making military provocations, and creating maritime & air tensions.” The embassy adds, “In an attempt to preserve its hegemony, the US keeps intensifying power projection in this region and deliberately seeks to widen differences and provoke tensions. China has exercised restraint, kept their differences and disputes in a proper place, and got them on the track of consultation and management.”

Chinese Embassy in Washington DC

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