The icy relations between the United States and China have warmed up again recently, but the Taiwan issue is still gnawing.
The United States plans to send an unofficial delegation to Taiwan after the elections to be held on the island on Saturday, the news agency AFP and Financial Times magazine referring to their sources.
According to an official source who commented on the matter anonymously, the US administration has also warned Beijing to refrain from any military provocation in connection with Saturday’s vote.
China considers the democratically governed Taiwan as its rebel province, which it can take over militarily if necessary. China said earlier this week that it would never compromise on the Taiwan issue.
The official who told about the sending of the delegation implied that the delegation would include former officials of the US administration. This has also been the case in previous similar delegations during the previous 20 years.
The United States communicates the importance of partnership
According to the official, delegations like this have been used in the past to ensure that the United States sends a clear message to the president-elect as well as to the other candidates about the importance of a strong, informal partnership.
According to the official, the mission of the delegations is also to make clear what the United States’ one-China policy includes and what it does not. By this he refers to the US decision not to officially support Taiwan’s independence.
Relations between the United States and China had weakened in recent years, but have since warmed somewhat after the US president Joe Biden and the President of China Xi Jinping met last November in San Francisco. The two agreed, among other things, to continue the stalled military negotiations between the two countries.
Representatives of China and the United States, on the other hand, held talks in the United States on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Despite the warming, the Taiwan issue continues to rub the countries. According to China’s Ministry of Defense, Chinese representatives had demanded that the United States stop arming Taiwan and oppose Taiwan’s independence.