--- description: He made the remarks at a regional summit in Cambodia Friday that was also attended by the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers. title: Blinken Says China Seeking to Change Status Quo With Taiwan image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3f775a11285b9ff8/698a3467929fad6a20bf8e3d/GettyImages-1242312856.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Asia](/tag/asia/) ## Asia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Antony Blinken Says China Is Seeking to Change the Status Quo With Taiwan by [Daniel Flatley/Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Daniel Flatley/Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 5, 2022 8:25 AM CUT  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) attend the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers meeting during the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Phnom Penh on August 5, 2022. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) attend the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers meeting during the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Phnom Penh on August 5, 2022.ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images by [Daniel Flatley/Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Daniel Flatley/Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 5, 2022 8:25 AM CUT U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused China of seeking to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait with missile tests and military drills following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island. Blinken made the remarks at a regional summit in Cambodia on Friday that was also attended by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The top US diplomat said there was no justification for China’s military response in reaction to what he called a peaceful visit from Pelosi, including firing missiles into Japan’s exclusive economic zone, according to a Western official who was in attendance. Speaking just after Lavrov and Wang, Blinken asked the other foreign ministers in the room — including representatives from 10 Southeast Asian nations, Australia, Japan, South Korea, India and New Zealand — how they would feel if China fired missiles into their EEZs. He then said the U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan hasn’t changed, but that Beijing was taking increasingly provocative action to disrupt the status quo, the official said. --- ### More from TIME --- The remarks from Blinken show the effort by the U.S. to paint China as the aggressor, particularly after Beijing has seen some success in portraying Pelosi’s visit as a provocation. Top Southeast Asian diplomats earlier this week [urged](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-04/asean-envoys-warn-against-miscalculation-conflict-in-taiwan "undefined") “maximum restraint” in the Taiwan Strait, warning that developments could “destabilize the region.” Further afield, the United Arab Emirates — a major US ally in the Gulf — [criticized](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-04/uae-warns-over-provocative-visits-after-pelosi-trip-to-taiwan "undefined") “provocative visits” after Pelosi’s trip and affirmed support for “China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6203967/blinken-china-taiwan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6203967/blinken-china-taiwan/"},"headline":"Antony Blinken Says China Is Seeking to Change the Status Quo With Taiwan","datePublished":"2022-08-05T08:25:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T14:35:21.434Z","description":"He made the remarks at a regional summit in Cambodia Friday that was also attended by the Chinese foreign minister","url":"https://time.com/6203967/blinken-china-taiwan/","keywords":["Asia","wire","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3f775a11285b9ff8/698a3467929fad6a20bf8e3d/GettyImages-1242312856.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel Flatley/Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3f775a11285b9ff8/698a3467929fad6a20bf8e3d/GettyImages-1242312856.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CAMBODIA-US-RUSSIA-ASEAN-DIPLOMACY","caption":"CAMBODIA-US-RUSSIA-ASEAN-DIPLOMACY","creditText":"ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/asia/","name":"Asia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6203967/blinken-china-taiwan/","name":"Antony Blinken Says China Is Seeking to Change the Status Quo With Taiwan"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Amid China's Protests, Nancy Pelosi Says the U.S. Will Not Abandon Taiwan","description":"U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meeting leaders in Taiwan despite warnings from China, said Wednesday that she and other members of Congress in a visiting delegation are showing they will not abandon their commitment to the self-governing island.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/U6oYPKam/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2022-08-03T09:33:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/U6oYPKam.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6203967/blinken-china-taiwan/","duration":"PT1M11S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6203967/blinken-china-taiwan/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```