Tensions between the U.S. and China have been increasing over the past few months.
Recently, China has begun to use much harsher rhetoric when addressing U.S. trade wars, showing its disapproval of a proposed military spending bill. New U.S. legislation would help Taiwan increase its national defense efforts, therefore complicating negotiations between Taiwan and China.
According to China’s Ministry of Defense, the bill directly interferes with Chinese efforts to enforce military cooperation between the two nations and is “full of cold war thinking.”
The Ministry of Defense further stated:
[Taiwan is] the most important and sensitive core issue in Chinese-U.S. relations … We firmly oppose any official exchanges and military contacts between any country and Taiwan.”
China’s Foreign Ministry also weighed in on the subject, calling for American legislators to avoid damaging the relationship between the U.S. country and China. China’s Foreign Ministry also confirmed that the American and Chinese governments are currently working on discouraging North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un from further developing his country’s nuclear weapons program.
Beijing has also made an effort to damage Taiwan’s international presence. Beijing ordered airlines, retailers, and publishers to refer to Taiwan as part of China and called for the countries that still recognize Taiwan as a separate entity to open ties with Beijing.
The bill itself is believed to be a direct response to China’s recent military enforcement and confrontational approach to foreign policy, both with the U.S. and its neighbors. The bill would also allow the U.S. government security panel which overlooks foreign investment to stop certain requests coming from China. The U.S has already labeled Chinese investment as a direct threat to American national security, which was seen by Beijing as an excuse to disrupt commerce between countries. The Trump administration has argued that several Chinese companies have been forcing their employees to give them sensitive technology from the U.S.
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