WASHINGTON -- The White House will send an unofficial delegation to Taiwan this weekend for the inauguration of the islandâs democratically elected president, the Biden administration announced Wednesday, in a move that is certain to upset China but unlikely to draw excessive responses from Beijing as the two countries try to stabilize relations.
A senior White House official said the move is in line with longstanding U.S. practice to send the delegation â which includes two former senior officials and a scholar â to the inauguration ceremony Monday. Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party will take office, succeeding Tsai Ing-wen of the same party.
Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of Chinese territory and vows to seize the island by force if necessary to achieve unification, sees Lai as a supporter of Taiwanâs independence and has long opposed any official contact between Washington and Taipei.
âIn what ways the U.S. deals with the new Taiwan authorities on May 20 and afterwards will affect (the) cross-Strait situation and also the China-U.S. relations in the future,â Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said Tuesday before the announcement, referring to the Taiwan Strait.
âSo we urge the U.S. side to act on President Biden's commitment of not supporting Taiwan independence,â he said.
The U.S. delegation will be in Taipei âto represent the American people," the White House official told reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the trip before it was announced. The official called Taiwan âa model for democracy not only in the region but also globally."
Despite an absence of formal relations with Taiwan, the U.S. is the islandâs strongest ally and is obligated under a 1979 law to help Taiwan protect itself from invasion.
It's unclear how Beijing would respond to an unofficial U.S. delegation at the Taiwanese inauguration, but "Beijing will be the provocateur should it choose to respond with additional military pressure or coercion,â the U.S. official said, adding that the administration is not predicting how China would respond.
Beijing has repeatedly warned Washington not to meddle with Taiwanâs affairs, which it says are a core interest for China because it is a matter of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Beijing sees Washington's support for Taiwan as provocative.
The U.S. insists any differences be resolved peacefully and opposes any unilateral changes by either side to the status quo. âWe do not support Taiwan independence," the administration official said. âWe support cross-Strait dialogue.â
Taiwan has topped the agenda in U.S.-China relations, which have soured over issues ranging from trade, cybersecurity and human rights to spying. The Biden administration, in its competition with China, has engaged in âintense diplomacyâ aimed at preventing tensions from spiraling out of control.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have recently visited China in the administration's latest effort to keep communications open and minimize misunderstanding.
Shortly after Lai was elected in January, President Joe Biden sent an unofficial delegation to Taipei to meet Lai, drawing protests from Beijing. Members of Congress also have traveled to Taiwan to meet the president-elect. Plans are underway for a congressional delegation to visit Taiwan shortly after the inauguration.
Beijing reiterated its claim over Taiwan immediately after Lai was elected and said âthe basic fact that Taiwan is part of China will not change." Days later, Nauru, a tiny Pacific nation, severed its diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which now is recognized by 12 governments, including the Vatican.
Since then, Beijing has criticized a U.S. destroyerâs passage through the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. Navyâs 7th Fleet said the USS Halsey âconducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on May 8 through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.â
Navy Senior Capt. Li Xi, speaking for Chinaâs Eastern Theater Command, accused the U.S. of having âpublicly hypedâ the passage of the ship and said the command âorganized naval and air forces to monitorâ the shipâs transit.
Meanwhile, in a push to avoid Taiwanâs global recognition, Beijing said this week that it would not agree to Taiwanâs participation in this yearâs World Health Assembly, an annual meeting by the World Health Organization that could boost Taiwanâs visibility on the world stage.
âChinaâs Taiwan region, unless given approval by the central government, has no basis, reason or right to participate in the World Health Assembly,â said Wang Wenbin, speaking for the Chinese foreign ministry.
Wang also said Taiwanâs Democratic Progressive Party, which came into power in 2016, has been âhellbent on the separatist stanceâ of Taiwanâs independence and that Beijing has âsufficient reason and a solid legal basisâ to bar Taiwan from the global organization.
Hereâs the bipartisan delegation that the White House is sending to Taiwan this weekend:
- Laura Rosenberger, chair of the American Institute in Taiwan, a nonprofit, private corporation established under a 1979 law to manage Americaâs unofficial relations with Taiwan.
- Brian Deese, a former director of the National Economic Council in the Biden administration.
- Richard Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state under President George W. Bush.
- Richard Bush, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who previously served as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan.