WASHINGTON/TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan’s vice president-elect and former de facto ambassador to Washington, Hsiao Bi-khim, is in the United States this week for a private visit, a senior Taiwanese official and a U.S.
spokesperson said on Tuesday.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite Taiwanese objections, and has been angered by past visits to the United States by Taiwan’s president and vice president.
The Taiwanese official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters Hsiao arrived in the United States this week and will spend the next few days there on a low-profile “personal trip” that includes packing up her personal belongings.
The official declined to elaborate.
Hsiao was Taipei’s de facto ambassador to the United States from 2020 until last year, when she joined the Taiwanese presidential race decided in an election in January.
A spokesperson for the U.S.
State Department also said Hsiao was traveling “in her personal capacity to tend to personal matters”, and did not respond when asked if she would be meeting U.S. officials.
“The United States has a longstanding precedent of transits by Taiwan officials and visits by candidates and Vice President-elect before they assume office,” the spokesperson said.
China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request from comment on Hsiao’s trip, which was first reported by several Taiwan media outlets and The Wall Street Journal.
Hsiao, 52, is a fluent English speaker with deep connections in Washington.
Diplomatic sources have told Reuters she can act as a key go-between for Taipei and Washington, which is the island’s most important arms seller and international backer despite the absence of formal relations.
(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru and Yimou Lee in Taipei; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; editing by Alex Richardson, Kim Coghill, Christina Fincher and Mark Heinrich)
