The United States and its allies must balance sending a clear message to China over Taiwan with the need to avoid escalation as Asia enters a ¡°sinister period¡± of tensions, Japan¡¯s top envoy to the U.S. said.
¡°We need to respond, we need to send a clear message,¡± Ambassador Koji Tomita said in an interview on Tuesday in New York. ¡°We have to act firmly, but wisely, because we have to be careful that we should not go into an escalatory cycle.¡±
Tomita said China sought to use U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi¡¯s visit to Taiwan earlier this month as a ¡°pretext to do something very aggressive¡± and change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, launching missiles that landed in the waters of Japan¡¯s claimed exclusive economic zone.
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