Military personnel have staffed the de facto U.S. Embassy in Taiwan periodically since 2005, a U.S. government spokesperson in Taipei said for the first time Wednesday when announcing the opening date next month for a new, 161,000-square-foot compound.
The Stars and Stripes flies at the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. Embassy in Taipei, in June 2018.
Over the last nine months, U.S. Navy ships have passed five times through the Taiwan Strait separating the island from China. And less than a month ago, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said her government had asked Washington for a package of American-made F-16V fighter jets. China would express “anger” and sound “warnings” to the United States if more Marines reach Taipei, predicted Alexander Huang, a strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. But it might temper any protestations if the only presence remains Marines guarding the de facto embassy, he said.
A trade deal and the timing of a Taiwan arms sale “may be correlated,” Huang said, but the sale is unlikely to hinge on Sino-U.S. agreements. “The bargaining chip is not the fighter jets, it’s the timing,” he said., in part to pressure China over trade issues, political scholars have said. His administration has approved two other arms sales to Taiwan, including a $1.42-billion package announced in June 2017.
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