TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink underscored the importance of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait at a Brookings Institute event on Tuesday (May 14).

Kritenbrink said preserving the status quo and regional peace and stability are U.S. priorities, expressing confidence it can meet the challenges. He highlighted the increasing Chinese coercion toward Taiwan and said the U.S. must use the Taiwan Relations Act to its advantage and cooperate with regional partners to contain Chinese aggression.

Taiwan plays a significant role in the U.S.' Indo-Pacific strategy, Kritenbrink said, particularly in the global transportation and semiconductor industries. He stressed that any threat to the Taiwan Strait would have significant regional and international implications.

With Taiwan’s May 20 presidential inauguration just five days away, Kritenbrink revealed that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken explicitly called on Beijing not to escalate Taiwan Strait tensions in the period around that day. Kritenbrink said he agreed that China is changing the regional status quo. 

Kritenbrink said he felt President-elect Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) remarks after he was elected conveyed Taiwan’s commitment to upholding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.