Biden Brushes Off China’s Complaints, Sends First Delegation to Taiwan

TAIPEI—A former U.S. senator and two former U.S. deputy secretaries of state have arrived in Taiwan, leading the first unofficial delegation dispatched by President Biden, amid heightened tensions with Beijing over the future of the self-ruling island.

Christopher J. Dodd, a former Democratic senator from Connecticut, and former senior State Department officials Richard Armitage and James Steinberg touched down in Taipei on Wednesday afternoon local time, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said.

During their three-day stay, the U.S. delegation will dine with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and the foreign minister, and discuss bilateral relations, the Taiwan side said. Taiwan’s state-run Central News Agency reported Wednesday that Taiwanese officials would brief the U.S. delegation on China’s recent provocations against the island and across the region, and call for increased support from Washington on trade, security and economic matters.

The senior U.S. delegation arrived in Taiwan hours before John Kerry, the Biden administration’s special climate envoy, visits Shanghai to discuss cooperation on climate issues with Beijing. Mr. Kerry said in an interview that Washington’s pursuit of climate cooperation with China wouldn’t mean it would compromise on other points of contention with Beijing, a list that includes Taiwan.

Visits to Taiwan by senior figures associated with the U.S. government, even former officials, are hypersensitive for Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a part of Chinese territory and has grown increasingly aggressive in its posture toward the island.

A statement by a Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman characterized the U.S. team as “a senior visiting group specially dispatched by President Biden” to convey the U.S.’s “firm friendship and support.”

A U.S. official said that the delegation’s close personal relationship with President Biden underscores the strong signal of support Washington wanted to send. Mr. Dodd is a longtime friend of the president.

In a press briefing Wednesday, Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office said China “does not promise to abandon the use of force and retains the option of taking all necessary measures.”

It warned the U.S. to halt its exchanges with Taiwan and pointed to recent military exercises by China’s People’s Liberation Army as a sign of its determination to curb what it described as Taiwanese independence forces.

“We oppose any form of official exchange between the U.S. and Taiwan, no matter how it’s presented, no matter what excuses are used as a cover up,” said Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office. Calling something official or unofficial is “just their lie for deceiving people,” he said. China’s foreign affairs ministry said it had lodged complaints to Washington about the visit.

The Biden administration has signaled its willingness to deepen engagement with Taiwan as Beijing steps up its rhetorical and military pressure on the island.

Many Taiwanese people had predicted the Biden administration to take a more dovish approach to the island compared with the Trump administration, which riled Beijing by sending two senior U.S. officials to Taipei last year. Washington formally severed diplomatic ties with the island in 1979, although a U.S. law commits Washington to ensuring that the island is capable of defending itself.

Instead, the Biden administration is largely continuing down the Trump administration’s path of increasing in-person exchanges with Taiwanese officials. The U.S. State Department this month loosened restrictions on official government contacts with Taiwanese counterparts to encourage engagement as part of what it called “our deepening unofficial relationship” with the island.

On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the U.S. commitment to helping Taiwan defend itself. It would be a “serious mistake for anyone to try to change the existing status quo by force,” Mr. Blinken said in television remarks that appeared to be aimed at Beijing.

Beijing has vowed to assimilate Taiwan, by force if necessary. The Chinese military has flown more than 250 sorties near the island this year, according to a Wall Street Journal tally of disclosures from Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. That includes 25 sorties on Monday alone near the island’s southwestern coast, the largest one-day total since Taiwan began disclosing daily figures last year. About 380 similar sorties from China were tracked by Taiwan last year.

While the risk of conflict between Beijing and Washington remains low, according to analysts, the two sides have run naval drills close to each other in waters neighboring Taiwan. The U.S. Navy recently published a photograph showing its guided-missile destroyer USS. Mustin monitoring China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, in the Philippine Sea this month. A few days later, the U.S. deployed an aircraft carrier and ship in the South China Sea.

An unclassified report by the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence this week said Beijing’s efforts to draw Taiwan closer is part of a strategy to secure its status as a global power and undercut the U.S.

Given Beijing’s stepped-up language and activity around Taiwan, “more has to be done by the U.S. to bolster the military defenses of Taiwan,” said William A. Stanton, vice president of National Yang-Ming University in Taipei and a former director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington’s de facto embassy on the island.

Still, Mr. Stanton said the visit of a bipartisan delegation would “boost morale in Taiwan” and give the island a “visible symbol of support.” Mr. Armitage, a Republican, served under George W. Bush, while Mr. Steinberg, a Democrat, held positions in the Clinton and Obama administrations.

“We welcome the gesture of friendship and commitment,” Taiwan’s U.S. representative Bi-khim Hsiao tweeted before the delegation landed.

Photo: Christopher J. Dodd, former Democratic senator from Connecticut, is in Taiwan as part of President Biden’s first unofficial delegation.
PHOTO: ANDREW HARRER/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-sends-unofficial-delegation-to-taiwan-as-beijing-ramps-up-pressure-11618384940