During her weekend visit to California, Ingrid Larson, managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), said that U.S. policymakers “are working to make progress on key priorities that will maintain peace and stability and advance our robust partnership” with Taiwan.
Ms. Larson made the statement during her speech at the annual Chinese New Year dinner banquet held by the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in the San Francisco Bay Area in Union City on March 9.
The AIT is the de facto U.S. Embassy in Taiwan. Ms. Larson is the managing director of AIT’s Washington office.
“Taiwan is a crucial partner,” she asserted, pointing out that there has been “a dramatic increase in PLA military operations in the Taiwan Strait” since 2019.
The PLA, or People’s Liberation Army, is the official name of the Chinese military.
Ms. Larson stated that as the Chinese military, economic, and diplomatic coercion of Taiwan continues, it is crucial to bolster Taipei’s ability to withstand Beijing’s pressure.
The United States and Taiwan cooperated in security under the Mutual Defense Treaty between 1954 and 1979. In June 1950, during the Korean War, the Truman administration sent the U.S. Seventh Fleet to the Taiwan Strait to protect it from a Chinese invasion. The U.S. military presence in Taiwan included the United States Taiwan Defense Command, and service units included the 327th Aire Division.
In January 1979, amid the Cold War, the U.S. government switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to communist China. However, the U.S. Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act in April 1979, which allowed Washington to maintain unofficial relations with Taipei.
Ms. Larson’s visit to Northern California comes ahead of the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act.
Relations between the United States and Taiwan have been quickly recovering in recent years, particularly since Dec. 2, 2016, when then-President-elect Donald Trump made a phone call to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.
According to Ming-Chi Scott Lai, director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in San Francisco, 40 senators, congressional leaders, and state governors visited Taiwan last year. Mr. Lai also spoke at the dinner banquet on Saturday.
TECO is the de facto consulate of Taiwan.
CCP Steps Up Aggression
The increasingly close ties between the United States and Taiwan are partly in response to the escalating aggressive actions of the Chinese military in the Western Pacific. Ever since Xi Jinping became the leader of communist China in 2012, Beijing’s leadership has spoken more and more about unifying Taiwan.The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been unilaterally claiming Taiwan as part of its territory.
The United States and China signed three communiqués in 1972, 1979, and 1982, establishing Washington’s “One China” policy. Under the communiqués, the U.S. government acknowledged the “One China” principle, which is the CCP’s view that it has sovereignty over the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
In June 2022, Beijing’s foreign ministry openly claimed full sovereignty over the Taiwan Strait and denied the international waterway in the region. The U.S. Navy has since sent its ships to sail through the Strait to protect the freedom of navigation.
However, the U.S. military presence in the region has not been able to stop the Chinese military’s provocative behavior. Between Sept. 17 and 18 last year, 103 Chinese military warplanes flew toward Taiwan within 24 hours, according to Taipei’s defense ministry.
On Feb. 19, 2024, six Chinese coastal patrol officials boarded a Taiwanese ferry in Taiwan’s waters. The tourist boat carried 11 crew members and 23 passengers. The Chinese officials checked the boat’s route plan, certificate, crew licenses, and passengers’ IDs.
“This is an example of the continuous pressure that the U.S. government faces regarding Taiwan,” said Ms. Larson when asked by The Epoch Times to comment on the incident.
She said the U.S. government expects to see more coercion from the Chinese regime due to Taiwan’s presidential election in January. “We hope to see Taiwan’s continued response,” she added.
On Jan. 13, Lai Ching-te was elected as the new president, a development that irked Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly criticized Mr. Lai as a “dangerous separatist” and warned that electing him as the next president could result in military conflict with Taiwan.
Mr. Lai will be sworn into office on May 20.
“From administration to administration, the support for Taiwan is rock-solid, principled, and bipartisan,” said Ms. Larson.
She added that Washington plans to engage with Taiwan’s incoming and outgoing administrations in the coming months and continue its commitment to the partnership with the island nation.
