May 31, 2018

Taiwan event creates headaches for Trump amid North Korea talks

Featuring Abigail Grace

Source: POLITICO

Journalist Andrew Restuccia

As Trump administration officials scramble to pull off a high-stakes meeting with North Korea next month, they’re grappling with another diplomatic challenge in Asia: the opening of a new office building in Taiwan.

Senior White House aides have for months been quietly weighing how to handle the June 12 opening of an office complex in Taipei that serves as a de facto U.S. embassy without enraging the Chinese government.

Chinese officials have repeatedly signaled, both in public comments and in private conversations with Trump administration aides, that any decision by the United States to include high-level officials — or even worse, a Cabinet secretary — in the delegation attending the ceremony would be met with outrage from Beijing.

With less than two weeks to go before the event, the White House has not yet finalized the delegation, according to people familiar with the planning, though it is expected to include at least one senior administration official. At one point last year, these people said, the White House considered sending former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who resigned in September amid a scandal over private jet travel.


Read the Full Article at POLITICO

Authors

  • Abigail Grace

    Research Associate, Asia-Pacific Security Program

    Abigail Grace is a Research Associate in the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for New American Security (CNAS). Her work focuses on U.S. strategic competition with ...