Lai Ching-te, the presidential candidate of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, made a sharp campaign statement for next year’s Taiwan elections. Ching-ti said Taiwan would achieve its political goal if the island’s president could enter the White House, which is the US presidential residence. The statement struck a chord and angered the US State Department.
Because of these statements, the campaign staff had to explain that, according to them, it was a misinterpreted statement that only indicated the good relations maintained with the United States. However, the current situation is also uncomfortable because Washington wants to avoid the appearance of support for any of the political formations in the Taiwan elections scheduled for early next year.
There was a similar loss of trust between the two parties before, when Chen Su-bin, who led Taiwan from 2000 to 2008, made unexpected remarks without consulting Washington. Now, the leadership of the United States has called the presidential candidate to account in order to prevent similar uncomfortable situations from happening in the future.
Lei Jing-te plans to visit the United States in the near future, but the White House is not on the agenda.
Since 1979, only the Beijing-based People’s Republic of China has been recognized by the United States as a sovereign state, and thus de jure America also considers Taiwan to be part of China. For this reason, even high-ranking Taiwanese officials are not allowed to visit Washington, as it openly violates more than four decades of previous diplomatic relations. However, the Biden administration has made it easier for US officials to meet with their Taiwanese counterparts, and several high-level meetings have taken place recently.
Cover photo credit: I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg via Getty Images
