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China lashes out at US and Japan for ‘joining hands to confront China’ ahead of Joe Biden’s Asian tour
- Diplomatic observers said the twin-pronged assault was unusually strongly worded and it was rare to take aim at Washington and Tokyo on the same day
- The complaints focused on Taiwan and what Beijing fears is an emerging anti-China bloc in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
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Beijing’s senior diplomats have lambasted the United States and Japan, accusing them of ganging up on China and playing the Taiwan card, two days ahead of Joe Biden’s first Asian tour as president.
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The unusually strongly worded rhetoric, according to diplomatic observers, underlined China’s deepening concerns about an accelerating encirclement effort led by Washington and Tokyo to curb Beijing in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It also painted a bleak picture of China’s external environment ahead of a once-in-a-decade leadership shake-up later this year.
In a phone call with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday, Yang Jiechi, President Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy aide, accused the Biden administration of failing to live up to its past commitments, especially on Taiwan.
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Heightened tensions in Taiwan amid Russian invasion of Ukraine
Heightened tensions in Taiwan amid Russian invasion of Ukraine
“The Taiwan question is the most important, sensitive and core question in China-US relations,” he said according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.
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“If the US side persists in playing the Taiwan card and goes further down the wrong path, it will surely put the situation in serious jeopardy.”
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