Beginning in Jan. 2017, the Trump administration made great strides in America’s relationship with Taiwan during its time in office, bringing the two countries much closer together than they have been in more than 40 years through increasing bilateral exchanges, strengthening defense ties and undertaking arms sales.
Symbolic of this progress, for example, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently announced the lifting of self-imposed restrictions on interactions between U.S. and Taiwanese officials. In a statement released on Jan. 9, Pompeo said, “Taiwan is a vibrant democracy and reliable partner of the United States, and yet for several decades the State Department has created complex internal restrictions to regulate our diplomats, servicemembers, and other officials’ interactions with their Taiwanese counterparts. The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing. No more.”
Related to this decision, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft was scheduled to visit Taiwan from Jan. 13 to 15 to meet with her counterparts for what would have been the first official interaction at that level since the Republic of China was replaced in the U.N. by the People’s Republic of China in 1971.