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| Mike Pompeo said the US-Taiwan relationship should not be "shackled" (File photo by= Getty Images) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] The US is lifting long-standing restrictions on contacts between American and Taiwanese officials, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says.
The "self-imposed restrictions" were introduced decades ago to "appease" the mainland Chinese government, which lays claim to the island, the US state department said in a statement. These rules are now "null and void". The move is likely to anger China and increase tensions between Washington and Beijing. It comes as the Trump administration enters its final days ahead of the inauguration of Joe Biden as president on 20 January. In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Pompeo said the US state department had introduced complicated restrictions limiting the communication between American diplomats and their Taiwanese counterparts.
The Biden transition team has said the president-elect is committed to maintaining the previous US policy towards Taiwan. Analysts say they will be unhappy with such a policy decision being made in the final days of the Trump administration, but that the move could be reversed easily by Mr. Pompeo's successor Antony Blinken. China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, but Taiwan's leaders argue that it is a sovereign state. Relations between the two are frayed and there is a constant threat of a violent flare-up that could drag in the US, an ally of Taiwan.
