The Biden administration amended and introduced new guidelines that allow for US and Taiwanese officials to be able to meet much more easily compared to before. This comes after China’s aggression towards Taiwan over the past few months, with the increased presence of military aircraft and ships surrounding the island. The Biden administration has been quick to express their support for Taiwan and their plans to strengthen their defence.
The new guidelines introduced by the Biden administration
The previous guidelines set in place made it difficult for US and Taiwanese officials to meet. However now US officials can host Taiwanese officials at federal government buildings, and Taiwanese officials can host US officials in unofficial Taiwanese embassies and consulates. There were also restrictions on certain buildings before to protect US-China relations that have been lifted for the sake of strengthening US-Taiwanese relations.
In the past, US officials were not able to attend events hosted at Twin Oaks, an estate in Washington which is the residence of the Republic of China ambassador, which was previously Taiwan but has since been changed to Beijing.
There are still certain rules to follow, however, to not complicate the One China Policy set in place such as avoiding events at Twin Oaks on Taiwanese national holidays or other similar days of significance, as well as not flying the Taiwanese flag when US and Taiwanese officials meet.
US-Taiwan relations have been strengthened…
With the new guidelines set in place, last month the US envoy to Palau was able to go and visit Taiwan, making them the first US ambassador to go on an official visit to Taiwan since 1979, which gives some insight into just how long the previous guidelines had been set in place.
Yesterday, the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen met with the US Senator and Deputy secretaries and tweeted out, “Productive discussions on further advancing the Taiwan-US partnership & cooperating to ensure stability, peace, & prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”
The previous US senator Chris Dodd has also expressed his positive thoughts on recent developments of the US-Taiwan relationship strengthening further, “I can see with confidence that the United States’ partnership with Taiwan is stronger than ever.”
There were worries before US President Biden took to the office that he could take a weak approach towards dealing with China, even more so than when Obama was in office. However, these current developments with Taiwan, it has set the stage for how Biden will handle relations with China in the future.
China-Taiwan relations have become tenser…
It is becoming popular speculation recently that current China-Taiwan relations have reached tensions comparable to that of the 1990s. China has taken a more intimidating stance when it comes to Taiwan, and just earlier this month 25 Chinese military jets breached Taiwan’s defence zone in just one day.
Over the past few months, the Chinese military has also been sending out military ships to occupy the surrounding water around Taiwan.
The 25 military jets earlier this week came after comments made by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Blinken warned against China’s raised aggression towards Taiwan should be considered as a “serious mistake,” however China sending the military jets was a clear answer to that.
Taiwan has feared an invasion from China, as mainland China still considers Taiwan to be part of their territory. Despite this Taiwan considers themselves as their own country and is very vocal about their wishes to stay separate from mainland China.
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