The State Department has announced that it will make it easier for US officials to meet Taiwanese representatives, defying pressure from China at a time of high tensions, and as the US Congress considers sweeping legislation to counter Beijing’s influence.
The United States still considers Beijing to be China’s legitimate government, consistent with its switch of recognition in 1979, but will do away with some of the convoluted rules that restricted dealings with Taiwan, including in-person meetings.
The updated guidance “underscores Taiwan is a vibrant democracy and an important security and economic partner that is also a force for good in the international community,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
“These new guidelines liberalize guidance on contacts with Taiwan, consistent with our unofficial relations,” he said in a statement.
The move by President Joe Biden’s administration formalises increasingly vocal US support for Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, and came in response to an act of Congress that required a review.
“Taiwan and the US share a deep and abiding partnership based on our common values and joint interests,” it said, pointing to cooperation on global health, space, trade and democracy promotion.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a staunch critic of Beijing, in his last days in office, said that he was getting rid of previous guidelines on dealing with Taiwan but not issue new ones, drawing confusion in some quarters on what had changed.
Open meetings
Under the guidelines issued by the Biden administration, US officials will be allowed to invite Taiwanese representatives into government buildings in Washington or attend working-level meetings at the Taiwanese mission, both of which were previously prohibited, a State Department official said.
The US began allowing open interactions with Taiwanese diplomats after Pompeo ended the earlier guidance.
The Biden administration last month sent the US ambassador to Palau on a visit to Taiwan to accompany the president of the island nation – one of a dwindling number of countries that recognise Taipei. The ambassador was the highest-ranking US diplomat to visit Taiwan in 42 years.
US Ambassador to Palau John Hennessey-Niland, right, attend a news conference in Taipei with Palau President Surangel Whipps, centre, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, left. Niland became the highest-ranking American diplomat to visit Taiwan in 42 years [File: Ann Wang/Reuters]Similarly, the acting US ambassador in Japan in March tweeted a picture of himself meeting at his official residence with his Taiwanese counterpart – the type of day-to-day diplomacy that is usually a non-event but which Washington had previously shied away from with Taiwan for fear of upsetting Beijing.
The new guidelines are also expected to relax the strict protocol on whether junior US officials can appear at Twin Oaks, the lush, forested residence of Taiwan’s envoy in Washington.
Twin Oaks events routinely draw a who’s who of US lawmakers and former officials but sitting government employees are careful to steer clear.
