![]() “It was just a hassle for everyone involved. officials at the State Plaza Hotel near the State Department or at coffee shops to circumvent the restrictive rules on official diplomatic engagement. Hsiao recalled how about two decades ago, she had to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, upheld the rule when he entered office. officials can engage with Taiwanese counterparts. During his final days in office, Pompeo rushed through a rule easing restrictions on how U.S. U.S.-Taiwanese relations have come a long way in recent decades and accelerated even more drastically under the Trump administration as Washington took a more hard-line stance toward Beijing. She was quick to point out that she has shared dried pineapple with “friends in the administration as well.” Hsiao was careful to stress Taiwan strikes a careful balance on engaging with Democrats and Republicans, lest it appear Taipei favors one party over the other. “As a proponent of freedom, enjoying some Taiwanese dried pineapple. They’ve since become a symbol of Taiwan’s David-and-Goliath-style defiance of China. There was even symbolism in the dried pineapples Hsiao gifted to Pompeo: China banned the import of Taiwanese pineapples as a punitive trade measure. “If you want to build a brand as a 2024 Republican candidate that you know will unify the party, it’s China,” he said. That extends to the presidential run as well. “In the Republican Party, which is badly divided over Trump, the one thing that Mitt Romney and, say, Ted Cruz definitely agree on is, China’s a problem,” said Green, referring to the more centrist senator from Utah and more hard-line conservative senator from Texas. Bush administration national security official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. side, there’s political as well as geopolitical benefits to publicly backing Taiwan and standing up to China, according to Mike Green, a former George W. “But, on the area of Taiwan, there is a lot of agreement and consensus, and that is very much appreciated from our part.” “As an observer of American politics here in Washington, you see a lot of partisan differences,” she said in a recent interview. Hsiao, a seasoned Taiwanese diplomat and politician who was educated in the United States, isn’t complaining about the attention. lawmakers, everyone seems eager to meet their Taiwanese counterparts. ![]() officials and congressional aides say that while China’s outgoing ambassador in Washington, Cui Tiankai, rarely makes public appearances anymore and has struggled to even secure meetings with U.S. allies with full-fledged embassies and ambassadors in Washington can only look on with a bit of jealousy.įormer U.S. Taiwan, even without formal diplomatic ties with the United States and no formal embassy-its diplomatic outpost in Washington is called the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office-is rapidly gaining outsized diplomatic clout and sway inside the Beltway, something other U.S. It’s led to a curious phenomenon in Washington. A big part of that, in turn, is showcasing support for Taiwan, something both Pompeo and Haley seem keen to do as they quietly lay the groundwork for a 2024 presidential bid. But that is starting to change as a massive shift in Washington is preparing the country for an era of great-power competition with China.Ĭonfronting China seems to be one of the only things that Democrats and Republicans can agree on in Washington’s fractious, hyperpartisan environment today. government officials are restricted in how they can interact with officials from Taiwan, the independently governed island that China views as its own territory, as part of the United States’ long-standing “One China” policy. He later tweeted out a photo of himself snacking on them. Hsiao gave Pompeo a bag of dried Taiwanese pineapples when she met him. Both later posted about their meetings on social media, extolling Taiwan’s commitment to democracy and freedom. Mike Pompeo, a former secretary of state, and Nikki Haley, a former United Nations ambassador, both met with Taiwan’s top diplomatic representative in the United States, Bi-khim Hsiao, in recent months. presidential election comes to a simmer, two top Republican contenders have gone out of their way to meet with a foreign diplomat they couldn’t meet while they were in office.
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