Recently, the US State Department updated the content on its website page related to US-Taiwan relations, removing the statement “does not support Taiwan independence” and adding new content about military and technological cooperation between the US and Taiwan. The Taiwan government welcomed this move on Sunday (February 16th), seeing it as a reflection of US support for Taiwan. Beijing has not responded to this development yet.
The revised State Department briefing on Taiwan affairs still maintains Washington’s position of “opposing unilateral changes to the status quo,” but has eliminated the “does not support Taiwan independence” statement. The page also includes new information about Taiwan’s cooperation with the Pentagon on technology and semiconductor development projects, and states that the US will support Taiwan’s membership in “appropriate” international organizations.
Like most countries, the US does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but it is a crucial international supporter of Taiwan and provides defense capabilities to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act. The State Department’s website shows that the US and Taiwan share similar values, deep economic and trade ties, and close people-to-people exchanges, which are the foundation of their friendship and drive the deepening of US-Taiwan relations.
“We oppose any unilateral change to the status quo,” the State Department website stated in its update on Thursday (February 13th), adding, “We hope that cross-strait differences can be resolved peacefully, without coercion, and in a manner that is acceptable to the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
The Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on Sunday expressing Foreign Minister Joseph Wu’s welcome of the US’s supportive and proactive stance in matters related to US-Taiwan relations.
Both the US State Department and the Chinese Foreign Ministry have not immediately responded to Reuters’ requests for comments.
It is worth noting that the US State Department previously removed the language “does not support Taiwan independence” in 2022 but reinstated the statement a month later.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, emphasizing that Taiwan’s future should be decided by the Taiwanese people and insisting that Taiwan is already an independent country—the Republic of China.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a matter of its “core interest” and consistently condemns any supportive actions towards Taiwan by Washington.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has expressed strong support for Taiwan and made various adjustments to US-China relations. Under the leadership of Marco Rubio, the State Department has taken a tougher stance against the Chinese Communist Party. On February 13th, the State Department updated its official position on US-China relations, directly naming “the CCP” three times and using strong language to criticize Beijing’s actions, particularly in areas like “CCP infiltration of international organizations,” in previously unseen severity.
Last week, US Navy vessels sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait for the first time since Trump took office.
In another statement, the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Canadian warship “Ottawa” passed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday.
The Canadian Department of National Defense did not provide comments to Reuters regarding this.
In recent years, Taiwan has faced increasing military pressure from Beijing, with Chinese military aircraft and ships entering Taiwan’s surrounding airspace and waters almost daily.
On Sunday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported detecting 24 Chinese military aircraft and ships conducting “joint patrol readiness” around Taiwan.
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comments on the changes in the US State Department’s website language, the actions of the Canadian warship, or the latest military activities.