United States embassy in Netherlands hosts Taiwan envoy after curbs lifted
- par Thibaud Popelin
- dans Monde
- — Jan 13, 2021
Despite the cancellation of Craft's visit, Pompeo's late action on Taiwan in the last days of Trump's presidency "gives greater emphasis for the Biden administration to continue to focus its attention on Taiwan, which is not a bad thing for Taiwan", Goto said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose planned trip to Europe was also cancelled, issued a statement Saturday easing self-imposed restrictions on all contacts between US diplomatic officials and their Taiwanese counterparts.
Besides Stoltenberg, he was also set to meet Belgium's deputy prime minister and foreign minister.
Mr Pompeo announced the change last Saturday, which scraps curbs on meetings with Taiwanese officials, in the waning days of Republican President Donald Trump's administration before Democrat Joe Biden assumes the presidency next Wednesday.
He also pointed out that unlike Trump's strategies without bottom lines, the Biden administration will undoubtedly keep playing the "Taiwan card", but by "more subtle or indirect means".
Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn blasted the U.S. president the day after the fatal attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the election - and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cancelled a planned trip in the fallout. "The sixth of January 2021 was a 9/11 attack on democracy itself, and Trump was the one who egged it on". Two cabinet secretaries resigned, citing the violence at the Capitol.
Beijing views the self-governing democratic island of 23.6 million people as a renegade province and vows to reunify it with the mainland, even by force if necessary.
Craft's planned visit to Taiwan came at an acutely perilous time for the self-ruled democracy.
The stakes are high.
During his tenure, Trump signed off on some $18 billion in big-ticket arms deals for Taiwan and ramped up the frequency of official visits, including sending a cabinet official a year ago, the highest-level delegation since 1979.
Then on Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared he was lifting "complex internal restrictions" limiting official contacts with Taiwan.
But Biden, who favors a far less confrontational diplomatic style that Trump, has given few details on what his Taiwan policy might be.
Beijing promptly warned Washington would "receive a resolute counterstrike from China" over the move and "pay a heavy price" if Craft visited. "The Chinese people's resolve to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity is unshakable and we will not permit any person or force to stop the process of China's reunification", said the ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian.
"Some kind of speeches as a result of dividing a society can really create this kind of problematics", she told BBC News last week.
