World U.S., Taiwan to team up on infrastructure in pushback against China

TAIPEI (Reuters) - The United States and Taiwan will work together on infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific region and Latin America, officials said on Wednesday, in an implicit pushback for China's own massive regional investment plans.

© Reuters/BEN BLANCHARD News conference about infrastructure cooperation between Taiwan and the United States, in Taipei

Washington is deeply suspicious of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative to build roads, railways and other facilities to link China to Europe, Asia and beyond, viewing it as a plan to entrap countries into China's orbit with debt diplomacy.

China is doubling down on its territorial claims: here's what you need to know

Since taking power in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has helped cement China's position as a global superpower -- and pushed forward an aggressive foreign policy, making bolder moves in several key flashpoints across Asia. © Brad Lendon/CNN The Chinese-controlled artificial island of Mischief Reef in the South China Sea, as seen by CNN from a US reconnaissance plane on August 10. From the South China Sea to the Himalayan Sino-Indian border, and even in one of its own cities, China has doubled down on its claims of territory, and taken a harder line in response to perceived challenges.

BEIJING — As China ratchets up pressure on Taiwan , the self-governing island it claims as its territory, the United States is cautiously starting to push Against that backdrop, Washington has recently begun moving gradually to reinforce its ties to Taiwan , a vigorous democracy facing an increasingly

China expressed its displeasure by sending two fighter jets across the median line of the Taiwan Strait. On Thursday, China ’ s military said it had conducted several live combat drills near Taiwan “ to safeguard national sovereignty” and implied the exercises were connected to Mr. Azar’ s visit.

China denies this.

The de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei said the new plan would support "quality infrastructure in emerging markets", while Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said it dovetailed the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy with Taiwan's own New Southbound Policy.

The latter effort aims to boost economic ties with southeast and south Asia, to cut the island's reliance on China.

"The Taiwan-U.S. cooperative partnership relationship has gone up another level," Wu added.

There were no immediate details of the volume of funding or investment projects, however.

The plan sets up a working group led by the U.S. Treasury Department and Taiwan's Finance Ministry to identify and promote public and private sector collaboration in infrastructure investment.

With international recognition, even when Taiwan wins, it loses

What's in a name? For self-ruled Taiwan, quite a lot, actually. © PHILIP FONG/AFP/AFP via Getty Images A woman holds a Taiwanese flag to cover her face as as she joins others at a rally to mark Taiwan's National Day, in the Tsim Sha Tsui district in Hong Kong on October 10, 2019. - Taiwan's National Day, also called called Double-Ten in a reference to the nationalist Republic of China set up by Sun Yat Sen on October 10, 1911, ending centuries of Chinese dynastic rule.

China has forced some of the largest airlines in the world to change how they refer to Taiwan . It'' s also compelled many Taiwanese businesses to bend to its

U . S .- China relations experienced remarkable ups and downs following the collapse of the Meanwhile, the administration approved a large sale of arms to Taiwan and conducted freedom of Around this same time, punitive tariffs against China begin to pile up . In June, Trump announced 25

Brent Christensen, the top U.S. official in Taiwan, said the pact, known as the Framework to Strengthen Infrastructure Finance and Market Building Cooperation, would offer a platform to promote more resilient supply chains in the Indo-Pacific.

The working group is due to hold its first meeting this autumn, he added.

Like most countries, the United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which China claims as its own. But the United States is Taiwan's most important international backer and main source of arms, to Beijing's anger.

This month the United States and Taiwan said they were seeking "like-minded" democracies to join a shift in global supply chains during the coronavirus pandemic, as Washington looks to ease its economic reliance on China.

Taiwan has also been keen to wean its economy off China, especially as Beijing steps up efforts at military intimidation against the island.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Jeanny Kao; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)