US warns against unilateral action

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday told his Chinese counterpart that the United States opposed actions by China that have increased tensions across the Taiwan Strait, a senior State Department official said.

During an hour-long meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit, Blinken made "crystal clear" that Washington opposes any unilateral changes by Beijing to the status quo there, the official said.

A recent increase in Chinese military exercises in Taiwan's air defence identification zone is part of what Taipei views as stepped-up military harassment by Beijing.

China claims the island as part of its own territory and views any foreign intervention over Taiwan as interference in its domestic affairs.

Blinken's meeting with Wang was their first in person since a fiery exchange in Anchorage, Alaska in March, when US and Chinese officials leveled sharp rebukes of the others' policies in a rare public display.

Sunday's meeting in Rome was "exceptionally candid" but productive, and would help lay the groundwork for a virtual summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year, the official said.