Taipei - China's diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan signifies a threat to all democracies and the United States is committed to helping the island defend itself, said Sandra Oudkirk in Taipei.

Speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan event late on Wednesday, Sandra, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, which handles relations in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, said managing U.S. differences with China faces "distinct challenges".

"The PRC's increasingly aggressive behaviour is nowhere more evident than in relation to Taiwan, where the PRC has continued to exert military, diplomatic, and economic pressure," she said, referring to the People's Republic of China, in remarks released by her office on Thursday.

"The PRC's provocative military activities near Taiwan are destabilising, risk miscalculation, and undermine regional peace and stability," Oudkirk added, at the event also attended by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.

China claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, and has over the past two years or so ramped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert those claims.

Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims and says only the island's people can choose their own future.

The United States is Taiwan's most significant international supporter and arms supplier, a source of constant friction between Washington and Beijing.

The country has also been working with Taiwan on supply chains, the island being a major producer of semiconductors.
-Reuters