The United States expects to convey to Southeast Asian countries during their upcoming summit meeting in Washington the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said Wednesday.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has drawn renewed attention to the situation in Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island which Beijing views as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
"I think what we want to underscore more than anything else is that the United States wants to take steps to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Campbell said at a Washington think tank, when asked about the upcoming discussions with ASEAN on cross-strait relations expected during the two-day summit from Thursday.