Taipei Times
Date: Mar 23, 2018
By: Staff writer, with agencies
China should prepare for military action over Taiwan following passage of the US’ Taiwan
American Institute in Taiwan Director Kin Moy, left, and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing Ian Steff are pictured in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Screen grab from AIT’s Facebook page
Travel Act, an editorial in China’s Global Times said yesterday.
China has to “strike back” against the US’ act, for example by pressuring the US in other areas of bilateral cooperation such as North Korea and Iran, said the paper, which is published by the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily.
“The mainland must also prepare itself for a direct military clash in the Taiwan Strait. It needs to make clear that escalation of US-Taiwan official exchanges will bring serious consequences to Taiwan,” the editorial said. “This newspaper has suggested that the mainland can send military planes and warships across the Taiwan Straits middle line. This can be implemented gradually depending on the cross-straits [sic] situation.”
Beijing was infuriated after US President Donald Trump on Friday last week signed the legislation that encourages the US to send senior US officials to Taiwan to meet their counterparts and vice versa.
Despite Beijing’s warnings, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday announced that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing Ian Steff arrived yesterday for a six-day visit to strengthen bilateral trade, commercial and investment relations, his first as deputy assistant secretary. [FULL STORY]
