Two senior members of Taiwan’s government are in the United States to meet with officials from President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, five sources told Reuters, in a Taiwanese effort to establish ties with the new administration.
Lin Fei-fan and Hsu Szu-chien, both deputy secretaries-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, and several of their staff, traveled to Washington for meetings this week, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
Reuters was unable to confirm who on the US side would participate in the meetings or the agenda.
Taiwan’s presidential office stated that the visit and “exchanges” by the national security team were a routine part of the job and that it had no further comment.
Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment.
Chinese intimidation
Lin and Hsu’s visit comes as China’s military steps up activity near the Taiwan Strait, in what the Taiwanese allege is an effort by Beijing to set a “red line” for the Trump administration and U.S. allies.
One of the sources said the meetings were with individuals in the president-elect’s transition circles, but would not include nominees for senior positions in the next U.S. administration, given sensitivity in Beijing about any talks between Taiwanese and U.S. officials.
The meetings are with “Republicans who are likely to hold mid-level political positions” in Trumo’s administration, a second source explained. Another noted that it was “safe to say” that Lin and Hsu were meeting with the next government’s transition team.
A fourth source added that visits to the United States at such a level are not rare and serve to meet “old friends,” including people in the next president’s circle.
When asked about the visits, China’s Foreign Ministry said it had asked the United States to “handle the Taiwan issue cautiously and not send any wrong signal to the country’s separatist independence forces.”
The US has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, a democratically governed island that China claims as its own territory.
The Taiwanese government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide its future.
Hope and concern in Taiwan
Trump’s election victory in November raised hope in Taipei that he will take a tough line on China, but also anxiety, given his comments that the island should pay the United States for its defense.
Trump has named several China hawks to key positions in his new administration, including Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state, who has called for unfettered interaction between U.S. and Taiwanese officials.
These appointments have been encouraging for Taipei, which Reuters reported may enter major new arms deals to show it takes seriously Trump’s statements that Taiwan must pay “protection” money to the United States.
Engagement to date between Taiwan and the new administration appears to fall into a gray area of unofficial contact and has been low-key.
This is a departure from the period before Trump’s first term, when in December 2016, a month before his inauguration, he had a phone call with then-President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen.
That call marked the first time since 1979 that a U.S. president-elect spoke to the island’s president, a move that angered China.
Ahead of his second inauguration, scheduled for January 20, CBS News reported on Wednesday (11) that Trump had invited Xi to participate in the event, something unprecedented for a Chinese leader.
The president-elect’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report, but Trump said in an interview with NBC News conducted last Friday that he “got along very well” with Xi and that they “had communicated recently, this week.”
China’s Foreign Ministry said it had “no information to share,” responding to a question about the report of Trump’s invitation to Xi.
This content was originally published in Taiwan authorities visit US for meeting with Trump administration on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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