China’s state media attacks Pompeo over Taiwan

“The Trump administration, in its continued efforts to burn the house down before leaving office, crossed a dangerous red line with China days before new President Joe Biden took office,” the comment said in part.

Biden takes office on January 20.

There was no immediate comment from the Chinese government on Pompeo’s decision to end State Department restrictions on how American officials can interact with Taiwan, which he said was implemented to appease the Communist regime in Beijing.

“Enough,” Pompeo said in a statement on Saturday. “Today I am announcing that I am lifting all these self-imposed restrictions.”

Taiwan is a sensitive issue for the Communist Party of China, which considers the autonomous island of 23.6 million to be a renegade province that should be submitted to its government.

Under the one-China policy, the United States recognizes Beijing as the government of China and has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan. However, it maintains unofficial contacts, including a de facto embassy in Taipei, the capital, and provides military equipment for the defense of the island.

Taiwan’s leaders welcomed Pompeo’s announcement.

“We are expressing our gratitude to the United States for speaking out and supporting Taiwan,” Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang told reporters. “We also hope to interact more actively with each other, so that Taiwan can have an even greater space in international society.”

He and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, who thanked Pompeo on Twitter, emphasized the values ​​of freedom and democracy shared by Taiwan and the United States – a contrast to China’s authoritarian one-party state.

Pompeo’s announcement came two days after he said he would send Kelly Craft, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, to Taiwan for meetings this week. She should arrive on Wednesday.