China should abandon threats against Taiwan, US diplomat says

The top U.S. diplomat in Taiwan said China should abandon its threats and military pressure against Taiwan and talk to the island's leaders as that would avoid misunderstandings and stabilise relations.



Raymond Greene, the de facto ambassador as head of the American Institute in Taiwan, which handles relations in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, said the consistent U.S. policy has been to support exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.



He was discussing the visit of Taiwan's opposition leader to China on a Taiwanese political talk show on Saturday.



"However, we also expect China - Beijing - to maintain open communication channels with all of Taiwan's political parties, especially the leaders elected by the Taiwanese people, in order to avoid misunderstandings and to stabilise cross-strait relations," Greene said in Mandarin.



"We further expect China to abandon threats against Taiwan or military pressure. I believe this would help ease cross-strait tensions."