Pentagon: Tension between Taiwan and China should not lead to "something like confrontation"

The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) reaffirmed its support for Taiwan's right to defend itself, saying that there is no reason why the tension between it and China should lead to "something like confrontation."

The comments by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby are the first comment by a military official in President Joe Biden's administration about the tension between China and Taiwan since he took office last week. It came on the heels of statements by Chinese defense officials earlier in the day, stressing that Taiwan independence "means war."

China considers Taiwan a dependent province and believes that the democratically elected Taiwan government is moving on the island towards the formal declaration of independence, but Taiwanese President Tsai-Ing Win has repeatedly said that it is a truly independent country whose official name is the Republic of China.