BEIJING: The US government continues to play its “Taiwan card” against China, with an announcement that the US ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft will visit Taiwan as well as holding a “political-military dialogue” with the island amid the turbulent White House power transition.
Analysts said that even if the Trump administration is about to step down in two weeks, which makes Craft’ s tour look like a token gesture, China should be alert to Washington’s plot to internationalize the Taiwan question.
In a press statement released on Wednesday on the website of the US Department of State which mainly states the US stance on Hong Kong affairs, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abruptly announced Craft’s tour, without mentioning any further details, including the time and topics at the end of the statement.
Spokesperson of Taiwan authority in charge of foreign affairs Joanne Ou confirmed the news on Thursday, saying Craft’s visit demonstrates strong US support for the island’s “international engagement” and represents a further enhancement of the two sides’ partnership.
The US and the separatist Democratic Progressive Party authorities in Taiwan held a virtual “political-military dialogue” on Thursday, without giving any details but claimed as “successful” by some officials on the island, according to Taiwan media.
While Craft’s position is not as senior as that of previous visitors like US Health Secretary Alex Azar and Keith Krach, the US State Department’s undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and environment, her UN-related career makes the visit more hostile, which might aim at extending Taiwan’s “international space,” Diao Daming, an expert on US studies at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Taiwan decided to lift restrictions on importing Ractopamine-enhanced pork from the US after Azar’s visit in August, while the meeting between Krach and Taiwan regional leaders in September failed to bring the Free Trade Agreement they wanted.
Craft’s dual role as a US politician and UN representative may offer an “illusory cordial” to Taiwan secessionists, said Huang Chih-hsien, an expert on cross-Straits relations and a TV commentator from Taiwan. She told the Global Times on Thursday that Craft’s visit is a barefaced provocation to the one-China principle.
– The Daily Mail-Global Times News exchange item
