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WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday (January 9) that he was lifting restrictions on contacts between US officials and their Taiwanese counterparts, a move that is likely to anger China and increase tensions between Beijing. and Washington in the last days of President Donald Trump. presidency.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and regularly describes Taiwan as the most sensitive issue in its ties with the United States.
While the United States, like most countries, has no official relations with Taiwan, the Trump administration has stepped up support for the island, with arms sales and laws to help Taiwan deal with pressure from China.
In a statement, Pompeo said that for several decades the State Department had created complex internal restrictions on interactions with their Taiwanese counterparts by US diplomats, service members and other officials.
“The US government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the communist regime in Beijing,” Pompeo said in a statement.
“Today I announce that I am going to lift all these self-imposed restrictions,” he added.
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The move appeared to be another part of an effort by Pompeo and the Trump Republican administration to ensure a tough approach to China before Democratic President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20.
Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert with the think tank at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said examples of the restrictions included Taiwanese officials who could not enter the State Department, but had to meet in hotels.
“The Biden administration will rightly be unhappy that a political decision like this has been made in the last days of the Trump administration,” Glaser said.
An official with Biden’s transition said that once Biden took office, he would continue to support “a peaceful resolution of cross-strait problems in accordance with the wishes and best interests of the people of Taiwan.
READ: China says it will respond to planned defense talks from Taiwan and the US.
The Taipei US Economic and Cultural Representation Office in Washington, which serves as Taiwan’s unofficial embassy, said the move shows the “strength and depth” of the US relationship with Taiwan.
“Decades of discrimination, eliminated. A great day in our bilateral relationship. I will appreciate every opportunity,” tweeted Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to Washington.
Pompeo, who has taken an increasingly tough stance on China and identified it as the main long-term threat facing the United States, has repeatedly used the Taiwan red button issue to push Beijing back.
In November, he appeared to question America’s long-standing “one-China policy” by stating in a radio interview that Taiwan “has not been part of China,” prompting Beijing to warn of such behavior that undermined “fundamental interests. and interferes in China’s internal affairs will be met with a determined counterattack. “
US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft will visit Taiwan next week to meet with senior Taiwanese leaders, prompting China to warn Thursday that they were playing with fire.
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Chinese fighter jets approached the island in August and September during the last two visits by the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, and the US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, Keith Krach, respectively.
The United States is Taiwan’s strongest international arms sponsor and supplier, and is obligated to help provide it with the means to defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979.
“The United States government maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world, and Taiwan is no exception … Today’s statement recognizes that the relationship between the United States and Taiwan does not need, and should not, be shackled by restrictions. self-imposed by our permanent bureaucracy, “Pompeo said.
