Blinken launches two-pronged attack on Beijing

US scolds Beijing for hiding withholding information about the coronavirus early last year.

A Chinese J-10 fighter jet fires at mock ground targets during a recent training exercise. Picture: People’s Liberation Army

The US has warned China against encroaching on Taiwan’s independence and scolded Beijing for withholding information about the coronavirus early last year, which had made the pandemic “worse than it had to be”.

Speaking days after the Chinese air force sent planes to fly near Taiwan in a display of force amid increasingly fractious Sino-US relations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration would defend Taiwan, stopping shortof explicitly committing US military.

“It would be a serious mistake for anyone to try to change the ­existing status quo by force,” he said, speaking on NBC on Sunday (Monday AEST) in Washington.

“What is a real concern to us is increasingly aggressive actions by the government in Beijing directed at Taiwan, raising tensions in the straits.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Picture: AFP

Last week the Chinese air force sent a fleet of aircraft close to Taiwan for the second time in a new sign of military intimidation, which has become increasingly routine.

“We have a serious commitment to Taiwan being able to defend itself. We have a serious commitment to peace and security in the Western Pacific,” Mr Blinken said.

He also attacked China’s failure to provide transparent information to “get to the bottom” of the origins of COVID-19. As a consequence “the virus got out of hand faster and with much more egregious results than it might otherwise,” Mr Blinkensaid.

In January 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping in a speech said Taiwan “must and will be” reunited with China, reiterating a longstanding aim of Chinese foreign policy since 1949, when former ruling nationalists fled the Communist mainland.

“Independence will only bring hardship,” Mr Xi added, suggesting unification with the mainland “an inevitable requirement for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people”.

The comments follow a frosty meeting between the new US Secretary of State and Chinese officials in Alaska last month, when China accused the US of violating human rights.

Senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi said in remarks that lasted 16 minutes, eight times the allotted length, that Americans “actually have little confidence in the democracy of the United States”.

A Chinse J-10 fighter jet. Picture: PLA

Mr Blinken said China’s behaviour had been “threatening the rules-based order that maintains global stability” and conveyed the US’s “deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber ­attacks on the US, and economic coercion toward our allies”.

The new US administration has come under pressure to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, in particular for its treatmentof Uighur Muslims in the northwestern Xinjiang region.

“We have a commitment to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, a bipartisan commitment that’s existed for many, many years, to make sure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself and to make sure that we’re sustaining peace and security in the Western Pacific,” Mr Blinken said.

Marsha Blackburn, a Republican senator for Tennessee, said on the same NBC program the US needed to send a message to its ­allies in the region “that we stand for and protect democracy”.

“We need to remember generations of Americans have promised to protect Taiwan … the Biden administration should send more messages of support for Taiwan, and for our allies who are going to stand with us against China and their aggression,” she said. “China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are new axis of evil.”

Mr Blinken also said China in the early stages of COVID-19 “didn’t do what it needed to do, which was to in real time give ­access to international experts, in real time to share information, in real time to provide real transparency”.

Late last month World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus said data was withheld from investigators who travelled to China to research the origins of the pandemic.

Dr Tedros said the issue required further investigation.

“The events highlight why there needs to be a stronger global health security system to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Mr Blinken said.

“Reforms must include a commitment to transparency, information sharing and access for experts … China has to play a part in that.”