A top US official says Taiwan does not face any immediate threat from China, which will likely continue its military activity in the region as part of a ‘new normal’
Beijing is instead moving towards a"new normal" of increased military activity in the region, says US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A visit to Taiwan early in August by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi enraged China, which subsequently launched military drills near the island. Those have continued, although on a much-reduced scale. The narrow Taiwan Strait has been a frequent source of military tension since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the Mao Zedong-led forces, who established the People's Republic of China.