Taiwan and the United States are working on a possible in-person meeting between Taipei’s envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and President Joe Biden this week, a senior Taiwanese official said.
Taiwan appointed Morris Chang, the founder of chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, as its representative to this week’s APEC summit in San Francisco. Taiwan is aiming at having a one-on-one exchange between Mr. Chang and President Biden.
“The two sides are discussing related arrangements,” Wellington Koo, head of the National Security Council, told reporters when asked about potential talks between President Biden and Mr. Chang during a briefing in Taipei on Tuesday.
‘All Possible Ways’
President Biden will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit. Tensions around Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory, are expected to be on the agenda when the two leaders meet in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday.Mr. Koo said Washington and Beijing were divided on major topics, including Taiwan.
“They are fundamentally split on core issues, so the meeting could become a place where they talk past each other,” he said, noting that neither side is likely to make concessions on the Taiwan issue.
The United States, like most countries, has no formal ties with Taiwan, but it maintains robust relations with Taipei. There is also a federal law that obliges the U.S. administration to provide Taipei with the means to defend itself.
Mr. Koo said defense relationships between Taipei and Washington remain close, but that they must keep a low profile. “I can only say, they are using all possible ways to help us, no matter if it’s in training or the build-up of asymmetric fighting capabilities,” he added.
No Message for China
Last year, Taiwan’s representative to APEC met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the summit in Bangkok, and their talks were mostly about semiconductors.Mr. Chang also had a brief exchange with Mr. Xi during last year’s conference. He described the interaction as “happy” and “polite,” but added that their talks didn’t touch on tensions around Taiwan.
APEC is one of the few international organizations that has representatives from both Taiwan and China, as the CCP has tried to isolate the island on the international stage. Like the Olympics and other global events, Taiwan takes part in the APEC summit under the name of “Chinese Taipei.”
Due to the CCP’s opposition, Taiwan has never had its president attend the APEC gathering.
On Tuesday, Ms. Tsai sent its special envoy, the 92-year-old Mr. Chang, for this year’s conference in San Francisco.
Asked whether Mr. Chang had been tasked with greeting the Chinese leader and sending him a message from his president, the top national security official said, “No.”
However, Mr. Koo added: “Everything should happen naturally.”
Earlier this month, Mr. Koo told Taiwanese legislators that the CCP is unlikely to invade Taiwan in the near term, at least before the end of Ms. Tsai’s second presidential term next May.
The CCP’s current priority is to deal with domestic challenges, such as attracting foreign investors and revitalizing its ailing economy, according to Mr. Koo. He suggested that Beijing would not want to risk military action to change the Taiwan status quo, like the sudden attack on Israel by the Hamas terrorists, which could only invite economic sanctions or other punishment by the West.
