U.S. State Department officials meet with Taiwan’s representative to the U.S. for the first time since Biden took office

Representative Xiao Meiqin meets with Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific Sung Kim on October 10. (Photo taken from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Twitter feed)

A senior State Department official meets with Taiwan‘s representative to the United States in Washington, D.C., for the first Time since the new Biden administration took office.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific Affairs Sung Kim met Wednesday (Feb. 10) with Taiwan’s representative to the United States Mei-Chin Hsiao to exchange views on issues of mutual concern.

The State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP Bureau) said in a tweet after the meeting, “It was a pleasure to meet with Representative Hsiao today. The United States is deepening its relationship with Taiwan, which is a leading democracy and an important economic, defense and security partner.

The Central News Agency (CNA) pointed out that, judging from the background, the location of the photo shoot should be within the State Department building.

After the State Department’s tweet, Hsiao also retweeted the U.S. tweet and wrote, “I had a great meeting today with Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian Affairs Kim Sung and his excellent team. We discussed many topics of mutual interest, reflecting our strong and broad partnership. I also wish this team a happy New Year.

This is the first time that Michelle Hsiao has been in the State Department since Biden took office on January 20. In addition, the State Department’s East Asia Bureau took the initiative to release a photo of the two together after their meeting. Outsiders point out that this may indicate that the Biden Administration intends to maintain the U.S.-Taiwan relationship of the past four years rather than shift the bilateral relationship to develop under the table.

Former Representative to the U.S. David Stilwell met with then-Assistant Secretary for Asia and the Pacific David Stilwell at the State Department before he left office last year. Upon her arrival at the end of July last year, Ms. Hsiao also met with Stilwell and Pamela D. Pryor, then a senior official in the State Department’s Bureau of International Organizations, in the State Department building.

Earlier, at Biden’s inauguration, Hsiao was invited to attend, the first official invitation in the 42 years since bilateral diplomatic relations were severed. In this regard, Taiwan legislator Luo Zhi-zheng said that since Taiwan was “directly invited” by the organizers this time, instead of through members of Congress in the past to obtain the qualification to attend, the significance is very different.