The Biden administration has been stressing to Beijing that the expected unofficial visit shouldn’t be used as a pretext by Beijing to step up aggressive activity in the Taiwan Strait.
The Biden administration is putting out the word in advance that an expected unofficial stopover in the United States by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen would fall in line with recent precedent and shouldn’t be used as a pretext by Beijing to step up .
In recent weeks, senior U.S. officials in Washington and Beijing have underscored to their Chinese counterparts that transit visits through the United States during broader international travel by the Taiwanese president have been routine in recent years, according to a senior administration official. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive matter.
But the Reuters news agency reported that China’s foreign ministry condemned the possible visit Tuesday, with spokesperson Wang Wenbin saying Beijing has already made „stern representations“ to Washington about it.
„We again warn the Taiwan authorities that there is no way out for Taiwan independence, and any illusions about attempts to collude with external forces to seek independence and provocation is doomed to fail,“ Reuters quoted Wang as saying.
In such visits in recent years, Tsai has met with members of Congress and the Taiwanese diaspora and has been welcomed by the chairperson of the American Institute in Taiwan, the U.S. government-run nonprofit that carries out unofficial relations with Taiwan.
Tsai transited through the United States six times between 2016 and 2019 before slowing international travel with .
