The United States ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft will visit Taiwan, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a Jan. 6 statement.
He did not specify the date of the visit.
“Taiwan shows what a free China could achieve,” Pompeo concluded.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Craft will be the first incumbent U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to visit Taiwan and the trip signifies further improvement of the Taiwan-U.S. relationship.
Bilateral ties between Washington and Taipei have warmed considerably under the Trump administration. Last year, two senior U.S. officials visited Taiwan, Health and Human Services
Secretary Alex Azar and Under Secretary of State
Keith Krach.
Craft has previously voiced support for Taiwan to be included in the United Nations system.
Taiwan lost its seat at the United Nations to China after the world body passed
U.N. Resolution 2758 in 1971. Eight years later, in January 1979, the United States ended its diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of Beijing—which considers the island a part of its territory, despite its self-ruled status with its own democratically-elected government, military, currency, and constitution.
Beijing has also opposed governments or international organizations from forming ties with the island that might suggest that Taiwan is a de-facto nation-state.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, Hua Chunying, criticized Pompeo’s statement during a daily press briefing on Thursday.
She threatened that the Chinese regime would take retaliatory measures in response.
Washington currently has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but has maintained a robust relationship with Taipei based on the
Taiwan Relations Act, which authorizes the United States to provide the island with military equipment for its self-defense.
