US lifts restrictions on contacts with Taiwan
The US is lifting long-standing restrictions on contacts between American and Taiwanese officials, Secretary of Point out 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 dept. said in a affirmation.
These rules are actually "null and void".
The move will probably anger China and increase tensions between Washington and Beijing.
It comes just as the Trump administration enters its final days and nights prior to the inauguration of Joe Biden simply because president on 20 January.
China regards Taiwan as a good breakaway province, but Taiwan's leaders argue that this is a sovereign state.
Relations between your two are actually frayed and there's a constant threat of a good violent flare up that could drag found in the US, an ally of Taiwan.
In a statement on Saturday, Mr Pompeo explained the US state department had introduced complicated constraints limiting the connection between American diplomats and their Taiwanese counterparts.
"Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed limitations," he said. "Today's declaration recognizes that the US-Taiwan relationship do not need to, and should not, get shackled by self-imposed constraints of our long term bureaucracy."
He added that Taiwan was a captivating democracy and a trusted US spouse, and that the constraints were no more valid.
Following announcement, Taiwan Overseas Minister Joseph Wu thanked Mr Pompeo, saying he was "grateful".
"The nearer partnership between Taiwan and the US is firmly predicated on our shared values, general interests and unshakeable belief in freedom and democracy," he wrote in a good tweet.
Last August, US Health and Individual Services Secretary Alex Azar became the highest-ranking US politician to hold meetings in the island for many years.
In response, China urged the US to respect what it telephone calls its "one China" principle.
The US also sells arms to Taiwan, though it generally does not have a formal security treaty with the united states, as it does indeed with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.
China and Taiwan were divided throughout a civil war found in the 1940s.
Beijing has long tried to limit Taiwan's international actions and both have vied for affect in the Pacific area.
Tensions have increased in recent years and Beijing has not ruled out the consumption of force to take the island back.
Although Taiwan is officially acknowledged by only a small number of nations, its democratically-elected government has good professional and informal links with various countries.
