Key Pentagon Official In Taiwan Amid Rising U.S.-China Tensions, Report Says

Topline

The U.S.’s top China defense official arrived in Taiwan for an official visit on Friday, the Financial Times reported, amid rising tensions between Beijing and Washington over the recent discovery and shootdown of a high-altitude Chinese balloon that U.S. officials say was being used for spying.

Key Facts

Michael Chase, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for China began his visit to the island after completing a trip to Mongolia, the Financial Times reported citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

On Thursday, the Chinese government sanctioned U.S. defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon over arms sales to Taiwan—following up on a threat made earlier in the week to target “U.S. entities that undermine China’s sovereignty and security.”

The exact purpose of Chase’s visit is unclear but it would be the second visit by a top Pentagon official to Taiwan in the past four years.

Key Background

Chase’s purported visit to Taiwan comes just six months after former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) visit to the island along with a Congressional delegation. Pelosi’s came amid rising tensions around the Taiwan Strait as was the most high-profile visit by a U.S. official to the island in decades. Pelosi’s visit—and subsequent trips by other U.S. lawmakers like Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.)—triggered an angry response from Beijing which conducted large-scale military drills around the island using live ammunition. Beijing has taken a more belligerent approach towards Taiwan—which it considers part of its territory—in the last few years. President Joe Biden, however, has said U.S. forces are prepared to defend Taiwan in the event of an “unprecedented attack” by China.

News Peg

Tensions between the U.S and China have risen once again in the past few weeks after a Chinese balloon flew over Alaska and the U.S mainland late last month before being shot down by the military near the coast of South Carolina on February 4. U.S. officials say the balloon was designed to conduct surveillance, an allegation that Beijing has refuted claiming it was a civilian weather balloon that had been blown off course. After the balloon was shot down, lawmakers in Congress passed a resolution condemning China, while the Biden administration sanctioned six Chinese companies with alleged links to the country’s spy balloon program. Beijing retaliated with sanctions against Lockheed Martin and Raytheon—although the move was mostly symbolic as the U.S. does not sell arms to China.

Tangent

In an effort to assure jittery foreign investors, the Chinese Commerce Ministry on Friday said its sanctions are intended for limited use against “very few” foreign firms that break the law. The ministry added that the scope of these sanctions will not be “expanded at will” adding “there is no need for foreign-invested enterprises to worry.”

Further Reading

Pentagon’s top China official visits Taiwan (Financial Times)

China Vows ‘Limited’ Use of Sanctions List for Foreign Firms (Bloomberg)

China sanctions Lockheed Martin, Raytheon over Taiwan arms sales (Reuters)