U.S. and Taiwanese officials are negotiating arrangements for Secretary of State Keith Krach to visit Taiwan this month to host the U.S.-Taiwan Economic and Commercial Dialogue, their new high-level dialogue platform, following a visit to Taiwan last month by Secretary Azar, the most senior U.S. Cabinet official in years.
Krach is the State Department’s third-in-command for economic, energy and environmental affairs. If it comes to pass, Klatsch would be the highest-ranking U.S. State Department official to visit Taiwan. In recent months, U.S.-Taiwan relations have been heating up rapidly, while tensions between Washington and Beijing have been deepening.
Azhar’s previous successful visit to Taiwan sparked strong discontent and protests in Beijing. Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China and has vowed to unify Taiwan by force at any cost.
Taiwan’s presidential office and foreign ministry said the U.S. and Taiwan are still discussing the details of Klatsch’s visit and the economic dialogue between the two sides. Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday that the consultations include the timing, format, agenda and all related issues, and that it expects a smooth start to the high-level dialogue between the two sides. Earlier, Taiwan media reported that Klatsch will visit Taiwan from Sept. 17-19 to participate in the new economic and business dialogue.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said in late August that Taiwan would lift the ban on U.S. beef and pork imports starting next January. Subsequently, Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Meihua and U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary for Asia-Pacific Affairs David Stilwill held a video dialogue on August 31, in which the U.S. side proposed a new high-level bilateral dialogue platform, the Taiwan-U.S. Economic and Commercial Dialogue, which focuses on cooperation in semiconductor, health, energy and other technology sectors. State Department Undersecretary Cratchit will lead a delegation to Taiwan for the dialogue.
Stalin also said that this new annual high-level dialogue platform will strengthen U.S.-Taiwan economic cooperation in a number of important areas. He also stressed that there is no reason for Beijing to be concerned about Klatsch’s visit to Taiwan, as the dialogue is about economic cooperation and does not involve any political issues.
In March 2018, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alex Wong of the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs visited Taipei shortly after President Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act, which allows high-level U.S. and Taiwanese officials to visit the country.
In October 2019, the State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Island Affairs, Sandra Oudkirk, visited Taiwan in a show of support after Taiwan lost two of its diplomatic allies, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati.
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