Taiwan’s friend Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. made a high-profile visit to Taiwan on March 28 to promote the Taiwan-Palau tourism bubble, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Palau John Hennessey-Niland, sparking speculation that the Biden administration may soon relax restrictions on U.S.-Taiwan diplomatic interactions.
State Department spokesman Price said on the 1st that the U.S. side is committed to deepening relations with Taiwan and will consider opportunities for mutual visits by high-level officials to promote bilateral relations in the future. The picture shows Palau President Hui Jorin (center) holding an international press conference with Foreign Minister Wu Chiu-sup (left) in the evening of the 29th, with U.S. Ambassador to Palau John Ni (right) also present. (Photo credit: Central News Agency)
At the State Department’s regular press conference on the 1st, a reporter asked a question on the spot: What message did John Ni’s visit to Taiwan convey to China (Communist Party)? Does this trip represent a continuation of the Trump administration’s policy of lifting restrictions on “visits to Taiwan by senior U.S. officials”.
State Department spokesman Ned Price responded that we are committed to deepening our relationship with Taiwan, a premier democracy and a key economic and security partner of the United States, and that the United States will continue to interact with Taiwan in a manner consistent with the long-standing “One-China Policy. The U.S. will continue to interact with Taiwan in a manner consistent with the long-standing “One-China Policy” and will further promote the exchange of senior officials between Washington, D.C. and Taipei, as has been the case in unofficial relations, to facilitate substantive exchanges on issues of mutual concern.
During President Trump’s presidency last year, U.S. officials have frequently broken records in their visits to Taiwan, including then-U.S. Secretary of Health Alex Azar, who visited Taiwan in August 2020 and was the highest-ranking U.S. Cabinet official to visit Taiwan since 1979, and then-U.S. Under Secretary of State Keith Krach, the highest-ranking State Department official to visit Taiwan since 1979. The next visit to Taiwan was by then-U.S. Under Secretary of State Keith Krach, the most senior State Department official to visit Taiwan since 1979.
In Taiwan, Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Chen Zhengqi led a delegation to Washington, D.C., in November 2020, and in February last year, then-Vice President-elect Lai Ching-teh became the highest-ranking Taiwanese official to visit Washington, D.C., and the White House National Security Council since Taiwan-US diplomatic relations were severed.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the lifting of restrictions on U.S.-Taiwan relations before he left office on Jan. 20 this year. U.S. and Taiwanese officials in other countries have also broken past restrictions and met with each other and posed for high-profile public photos.
The Financial Times recently reported that the Biden administration is preparing to announce guidelines for U.S.-Taiwan relations, which will continue some of the changes made during the Trump presidency and continue to encourage meetings between U.S. and Taiwan officials, with most of the past restrictions on interaction between bilateral officials being lifted.
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