Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is erasing the guidelines that have restricted U.S. government contact with Taiwanese officials in the latest American repudiation of China’s claims to sovereignty over the island.
“The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing,” Pompeo said Saturday. “No more.”
Chinese Communist Party officials have aspired to control Taiwan since the 1949 revolution, when the remnants of the defeated nationalist government established itself in Taipei. American officials have treaded carefully when engaging with Taiwan since 1979, when the United States severed official ties with Taipei in order to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing, but Pompeo’s team has taken a series of steps to emphasize Taiwan’s status as a geopolitical actor.
“Executive branch agencies should consider all ‘contact guidelines’ regarding relations with Taiwan previously issued by the Department of State under authorities delegated to the Secretary of State to be null and void,” Pompeo said. ”The United States government maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world, and Taiwan is no exception.”
Taiwanese officials celebrated the gesture.
“The State Department’s actions to further Taiwan-U.S. engagements reflect the strength and depth of our relationship,” a spokeswoman at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the U.S., told the Washington Examiner. “We are grateful to the State Department — as well as members of Congress from both parties of passing the Taiwan Assurance Act, which had also encouraged this review. We look forward to broadening the Taiwan-U.S. partnership in the months and years ahead.”
Pompeo’s team will have limited opportunity to act on the guidelines before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, but U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft will make a historic visit to Taiwan next week.
“The ambassador will reinforce the U.S. government’s strong and ongoing support for Taiwan’s international space,” Craft’s team announced.
Chinese officials warned that the U.S. “will pay a heavy price” for Craft’s visit.
“We have noticed that for a period of time, a few anti-China politicians in the Trump administration, or Pompeo and his like if you will, have put on stage their ‘final madness,’ unscrupulously using the remaining days in office to sabotage China-U.S. relations and serve their personal political gains,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Friday. “This trick goes against the tide of history and runs counter to the desire of the Chinese and American peoples for friendship and peace, which will definitely get punished by history.”
The lifting of the guidelines is consistent with the declassification of the Six Assurances that govern U.S.-Taiwan relations (including one that states, “The United States has not agreed to take any position regarding sovereignty over Taiwan”), according to the State Department’s top official for Asia.
“We declassified the Six Assurances, which were held under tight security, and it just made sense to be more clear about among ourselves some of us government, and others also expressing to the world what we signed up for,” Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell told reporters Saturday.
The Chinese envoy asserted that “this trick goes against the tide of history and runs counter to the desire of the Chinese and American peoples for friendship and peace, which will definitely get punished by history.”
Stilwell, for his part, scoffed at such complaints.
“Beijing often talks about the feelings of 1.4 billion people. My question back is, ‘How can you tell when you won’t listen to them?’” he said.
