US sources said that the tension over Taiwan prompted the administration of President Joe Biden to reconsider its intention to ease some tariffs imposed on China, while Taipei announced that the threat of Chinese military power has not diminished, coinciding with Taiwanese military exercises.

Reuters quoted US officials as saying that the recent tensions over Taiwan prompted Biden administration officials to reconsider whether to cancel some tariffs or impose others on China;

Biden's team has been looking at various ways to reduce the costs of tariffs imposed by the administration of former President Donald Trump on Chinese imports, as part of Biden's attempt to curb spiraling inflation.

One of the officials told Reuters that Biden had not made a decision before the events in the Taiwan Strait, and had not made a decision yet, and that all options were still on the table, as he put it.

The agency indicated that Beijing's reaction to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan has recalculated the Biden administration officials who seek not to do anything that could be considered by China as an escalation against it, while also seeking to avoid the Biden administration being seen as backing down. in front of China.

Taiwan President: The threat of Chinese military power has not receded (Anatolia)

The threat is still there

Meanwhile, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday visited the Air Force headquarters to talk to officers, telling them, "At the moment, the threat of China's military power has not receded."

She reiterated that Taiwan will not escalate conflicts or provoke disputes, adding, "We will resolutely defend our sovereignty and national security, and adhere to the approach of defending democracy and freedom."

"In the face of China's recent military provocations, the armed forces of the nation are directly on the front lines, their duties will be more difficult, and the pressure will be greater," the Taiwan president said.

For her part, Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Guan Oo said - at a press conference - that only the people of Taiwan have the right to self-determination, after China proposed the "one country, two systems" model in a "white" paper it published this week.

She added that China is using Pelosi's visit to Taipei as "a pretext to create a new normal to intimidate the Taiwanese people."

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that "realizing the complete reunification of the motherland" is an unstoppable historical trend.

"We are ready to create ample space for peaceful reunification, but we will not leave room for any form of Taiwan independence separatist activities," he added.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office announced in a "white paper" on Wednesday that Beijing would not "abandon the use of force" against its neighbor, and that it reserved "the possibility of taking all necessary measures."


Drills and exercises

And China had extended its largest-ever exercises around the island of Taiwan beyond the four days that were originally scheduled for these exercises, as it announced yesterday, Wednesday, that its army had completed various tasks around Taiwan, but that it would conduct regular patrols.

An informed source told Reuters that more than 10 ships of the Chinese and Taiwanese navies remained close to the center line of the Taiwan Strait as of this afternoon, adding that the number was "significantly lower" than in previous days.

He added that several Chinese ships are carrying out missions off the east coast of Taiwan and near the Japanese island of Yonaguni, and that several Chinese fighters crossed on Thursday for a brief period the unofficial buffer zone separating China and Taiwan in the strait.

On the other hand, a spokesman for the Taiwanese Eighth Corps, Lu Wei Jie, told AFP that the Taiwanese forces fired artillery shells and flares in Pingtung County (south) as part of defensive exercises.