Epoch Times
Date: April 15, 2019
By: Reuters

The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan attends a ceremony at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), to mark the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, in Taipei, Taiwan on March 15, 2019. (Fabian Hamacher/Reuters)

TAIPEI—Chinese bombers and warships conducted drills around Taiwan on April 15, the latest military maneuvers near the self-ruled island that a senior U.S. official denounced as “coercion” and a threat to stability in the region.

The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms.

China has stepped up pressure on Taiwan, whose President Tsai Ing-wen Beijing suspects of pushing for the island’s formal independence, a red line for China which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

“Any attempt to influence Taiwan through threats or coercion, we believe, destabilizes the region and threatens stability in the Taiwan Strait,” James Moriarty, chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, said at a ceremony to mark the last four decades of U.S.-Taiwan relations.    [FULL  STORY]