China-Taiwan tension grows over US troops role

Military tensions between mainland China and Taiwan have increased after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen confirmed to CNN on Thursday that US troops are on the ground training the self-governing island’s soldiers. The news came after a recent series of military incidents, including about 150 Chinese fighter jets flying to Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ) this month and a US nuclear submarine’s collision with an unknown object in the South China Sea on October 2.

Tsai’s comments attracted strong comments from Chinese state media, which said the US had crossed the mainland’s bottom line and Taiwan’s separatism could trigger a war in the Taiwan Strait.

China’s Foreign Ministry criticized the US for sending “wrong signals” to the Taiwan independence camp and threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing urged the US to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and stipulations in the three joint communiques agreed between the US and China in 1972, 1979 and 1982.

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