A statement proclaiming that the US does not support independence for Taiwan has vanished from the State Department's website, an alteration welcomed by the island but not by China. Lin Chia-lung, Taiwan's foreign minister, expressed thanks for what he called "positive, Taiwan-friendly wordings," the BBC reports. China's foreign ministry, on the other hand, asked the US on Monday to "correct its mistakes," saying the change "sends a wrong ... signal to separatist forces advocating for Taiwan independence." Taiwan contends it's already independent.
The State Department said the wording was dropped during a routine update of a fact sheet on US-Taiwan relations. The fact sheet still says the US opposes unilateral changes to the status quo by China or Taiwan, a position confirmed by a department spokesman on Sunday in an email to NBC News. "We support cross-Strait dialogue, and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means," the email says. Other changes add mentions of Taiwan helping with a Pentagon tech project and an assurance that the US will continue to back Taiwan's participation in international organizations, "including membership where applicable."
China has opposed Taiwan joining international groups such as the World Health Organization. President Trump has sent mixed signals to the island. He's recently said that Taiwan must pay more for its defense and that it's stealing semiconductor business from the US. But the administration has also expressed strong support of Taiwan at times. The website change, a Chinese spokesperson said, per the BBC, "is another example of the US stubbornly persisting with its wrong policy of using Taiwan to contain China." (More US-China relations stories.)
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