US lifts restrictions on contacts with Taiwan as clock runs out on Trump administration | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
September 22, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
US lifts restrictions on contacts with Taiwan as clock runs out on Trump administration

World+Biz

Reuters
10 January, 2021, 08:55 am
Last modified: 10 January, 2021, 09:04 am

Related News

  • China VP warns at UN of 'strong will' on Taiwan
  • Taiwan urges China to stop 'destructive' military activities
  • Japan elevates Taiwan security ties in move likely to rile China
  • Typhoon Haikui prompts Taiwan to evacuate thousands, cancel flights
  • Foxconn founder Terry Gou announces run for Taiwan presidency

US lifts restrictions on contacts with Taiwan as clock runs out on Trump administration

The Trump administration has ramped up backing for the island country, with arms sales and laws to help Taiwan deal with pressure from China

Reuters
10 January, 2021, 08:55 am
Last modified: 10 January, 2021, 09:04 am
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, US, April 22, 2020. Nicholas Kamm/Pool via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, US, April 22, 2020. Nicholas Kamm/Pool via REUTERS

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday said he was lifting restrictions on contacts between US officials and their Taiwanese counterparts, a move likely to anger China and increase tensions between Beijing and Washington in the waning days of President Donald Trump's presidency.

China claims democratic and separately ruled 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 ramped up backing for the island country, 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 Taiwanese counterparts by American diplomats, service members and other officials.

"The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing," Pompeo said in a statement.

"Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed restrictions," he added.

The move appeared to be another part of an effort by Pompeo and Trump's Republican administration to lock in a tough approach to China before Democratic President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20.

Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said examples of the restrictions included Taiwanese officials not being able to enter the State Department, but instead having to meet at hotels.

"The Biden administration will rightly be unhappy that a policy decision like this was made in the final days of the Trump administration," Glaser said.

An official with Biden's transition said that once Biden was in office he would continue to support "a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people of Taiwan."

"Decade Of Discrimination, Removed"

Taiwan's government welcomed the move.

"Decades of discrimination, removed. A huge day in our bilateral relationship. I will cherish every opportunity," Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan's de facto ambassador in Washington, tweeted.

A senior Taiwanese official familiar with the island's security planning told Reuters this was the largest adjustment by the United States in its policy toward the island in recent years, saying both main US political parties have always strongly supported exchanges between the United States and Taiwan.

"It reflects the current situation of closer cooperation between the United States and Taiwan on regional and global issues," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Pompeo, who has taken an increasingly hard-line stance toward China and identified it as the principal long-term threat faced by the United States, has repeatedly used the red-button Taiwan issue to push back against Beijing.

In November, he appeared to call into question the long-standing US "one-China policy" by stating in a radio interview that Taiwan "has not been a part of China," causing Beijing to warn that behavior that undermined "China's core interests and interferes with China's domestic affairs will be met with a resolute counterattack."

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, will visit Taiwan next week for meetings with senior Taiwanese leaders, prompting China to warn on Thursday they were playing with fire.

Chinese fighter jets approached the island in August and September during the last two visits: by US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach, respectively.

The United States is Taiwan's strongest international backer and arms supplier, and is obliged to help provide it with the means to defend itself under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.

"The United States government maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world, and Taiwan is no exception. ... Today's statement recognizes that the US-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy," Pompeo said.

Top News

US-Taiwan / US-Taiwan Deal / Mike Pompeo / Secretary of State Mike Pompeo / US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo / Taiwan / Taiwan officials / Taiwan independence / Taiwan sovereignty

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Photo: @UnderSecStateJ/X
    PM Hasina, Uzra Zeya meet; discuss importance of free, fair elections
  • Roads in front of New Market submerged on 22 September 2023. Photo: TBS
    A night of horror for Dhaka residents, many areas still underwater
  • Workers collect indigo leaves at a farm in Rangpur Sadar upazila. An important source of natural infigo dye in the 19th century in colonial India, the plant is seeing a revival through researchers and enthusiasts. The photo was taken recently. Photo: Khorshed Alam
    Indigo farming: Once a curse, now a blessing

Related News

  • China VP warns at UN of 'strong will' on Taiwan
  • Taiwan urges China to stop 'destructive' military activities
  • Japan elevates Taiwan security ties in move likely to rile China
  • Typhoon Haikui prompts Taiwan to evacuate thousands, cancel flights
  • Foxconn founder Terry Gou announces run for Taiwan presidency

Features

Why is the fixed exchange rate for dollars failing?

Why is the fixed exchange rate for dollars failing?

1d | Panorama
At present, there are about 200 freezing vans operating in Dhaka city. Photo: Nayem Ali

Rising temperature is driving up the use of freezing vans

5h | Features
Illustration: TBS

'Stop subsidising the status quo to avoid middle-income trap'

6h | Panorama
Mountain gorillas are vulnerable species, only found in the willderness. Photo: Muntasir Akash

Against all odds: My encounters with mountain gorillas in Rwanda

1d | Earth

More Videos from TBS

After almost two months, the Ukrainian grain ship left the Black Sea port

After almost two months, the Ukrainian grain ship left the Black Sea port

19h | TBS World
Revenue collection rises 15% in first two months of FY24

Revenue collection rises 15% in first two months of FY24

16h | TBS Economy
Fans call for Amir’s inclusion after Naseem Shah's injury

Fans call for Amir’s inclusion after Naseem Shah's injury

17h | TBS SPORTS
The need for a circular economy in Bangladesh

The need for a circular economy in Bangladesh

20h | TBS Face to Face
EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]