What an Unofficial Embassy Opening Says About US-Taiwan Relations

On June 12, there were significant developments in two of the most potent flashpoints in East Asia. First, as is well covered elsewhere in this issue, U.S. President Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. On the same day, however, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) – the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei – opened its new offices in a ceremony celebrating the U.S.-Taiwan partnership, much to China’s dismay.

Generally, a new embassy opening is a minor affair for the host government. The dedication ceremony for the AIT’s new location, however, was a marquee event for Taiwanese politicians. As Beijing squeezes Taipei’s international space, the U.S.-Taiwan partnership has become all the more important – and the opening of a new, more spacious office compound for the United States’ unofficial embassy was an important sign of that relationship’s health.

Accordingly, the ceremony was attended not only by Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, who gave a speech on the occasion, but by former President Ma Ying-jeou, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je. The range of political figures in attendance – Tsai is from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Ma from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), and Ko is an independent – symbolized the consensus among Taiwanese political parties on the importance of the U.S.-Taiwan relationship.

Ahead of the event, there had been some speculation that the United States would send a high-level official to attend as well. The Taiwan Travel Act, signed into law this year, recommends that the U.S. government “allow officials at all levels… including Cabinet-level national security officials, general officers, and other executive branch officials, to travel to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts.” The new AIT office opening provided a potential chance to put the Act to the test, with some wondering aloud whether new National Security Advisor John Bolton – a vocal advocate for Taiwan – would appear at the ceremony.

In the end, however, the senior-most U.S. official in attendance was Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce (interestingly, her husband, Ed Royce, is the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, and describes himself on his website as “a long-time friend and supporter of Taiwan.”) When asked about the lack of any high-level representatives from the United States, AIT Chairman James Moriarty replied, in a reference to the simultaneous U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, “I believe there is a lot going on in the region today, and we need to respect that.”

Indeed, the low-key U.S. representation ensured that the AIT opening was overshadowed by the Trump-Kim summit, which may have worked in Taiwan’s favor. Less public attention on the ceremony translated to less public anger from Beijing. The main reaction was pro forma objections from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Taiwan Affairs Office. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, in his June 12 press conference, said China was “gravely concerned” about Royce’s attendance at the ceremony.

“I must point out that the U.S., by sending officials to Taiwan under whatever pretext, severely violates the one-China principle and three China-U.S. joint communiques, interferes in China’s internal affairs, and exerts negative impact on China-US relations,” Geng added. However, that was all he had to say on the subject – the vast majority of the day’s press conference was devoted to fielding questions on the U.S.-North Korea summit.

The Taiwan Affairs Office issued its own statement from spokesperson Ma Xiaoguang. Ma largely repeated Geng’s warning to the United States, then added one for the DPP: its attempts to inflate its importance by relying on foreign help will only make cross-strait relations worse, Ma said.

Cross-strait relations have been on ice since Tsai assumed office. The DPP traditionally supports Taiwanese identity and independence, although the latter tendency has been muted in recent years, in acknowledgement of the political difficulties involved. Tsai herself has repeatedly called for maintaining the “status quo,” but Beijing was enraged by her refusal to verbally pay tribute to the “one China” concept. Since May 2016, when Tsai was inaugurated, China has poached four of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies. In 2017 and again this year, Chinese pressure systematically excluded Taipei from the World Health Assembly, which it previously attended as an observer. China has also begun to pressure foreign companies to refer to Taiwan as “Taiwan, China” or a similar formulation, and avoid any implication that the self-governing island is, in fact, self-governing.

The AIT dedication ceremony came alongside this backdrop of worsening cross-strait relations and shrinking international space for Taiwan, which is making U.S. support increasingly important. Amid China’s pressure campaign, U.S.-Taiwan ties have been growing. In addition to the Taiwan Travel Act mentioned above, the United States has approved U.S. companies to license technology to Taiwan for the construction of submarines, and the Trump administration offered its first arms package to Taiwan last year.

In her remarks at the event, Tsai called the new AIT building “a reaffirmation of our shared values, interests, and commitment to this vital partnership.”

“As we dedicate this building, we also rededicate ourselves to our common sense of purpose,” Tsai added. In a nod to the Trump administration’s “free and open Indo-Pacific” catchphrase, she continued, “As free and open democracies, we have an obligation to work with one another to defend our values and protect our joint interests.”

In a separate meeting with AIT chairman James Moriarty, Tsai had harsh words for Beijing: “China's recent offensive to suppress Taiwan's diplomatic presence and frequent military actions underscore a unilateral attempt to change the status quo of peace and stability.”

She made a special point of thanking the United States for “upholding justice and speaking up against Chinese pressure on international airlines to change their designation for Taiwan.”

Earlier in May, when news broke that China was pressuring foreign airlines to categorize Taiwan as a Chinese territory on their websites, the Trump administration issued a statement denouncing Beijing for “Orwellian nonsense.” Trump, the statement said, “will stand up for Americans resisting efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to impose Chinese political correctness on American companies and citizens.”

U.S. representatives echoed Tsai’s rhetoric. Royce called the new AIT complex “a symbol of the strength and vibrancy of the U.S.-Taiwan partnership in the 21st century.” And Moriarty promised that “[t]ogether with our friends on Taiwan, we will continue to advance the ties that so closely bind our economies and people, and support Taiwan’s ability to defend itself and to make positive contributions to the international community.”

Yet as the lack of a high-level U.S. representative signaled, there are limits to Washington’s support. Amid a brewing trade war with China, and the need for Chinese cooperation on North Korea, the Trump administration apparently decided not to push the Taiwan issue and open a new front in an already tense U.S.-China relationship. And that remains a central problem for Taiwan: its relationship with its major external partner is heavily influenced by global factors outside Taipei’s control. That the Trump-Kim summit outshone the long-scheduled AIT opening ceremony was a visceral reminder of that fact.