A senior United States official due to visit Taiwan this week will not make the trip after all, the U.S. Department of State says, pointing to the transition of the White House to the administration of President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20.

All planned travel this week had been canceled, including that of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft to Taiwan, the department said on Tuesday in announcing its decision. A visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Europe was dropped as well.

Craft had been scheduled to go to Taipei from Jan. 13-15, during which she was to meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Wu. Her original itinerary had also included delivering a speech at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs.

Xavier Chang, a spokesperson for Taiwan’s Presidential Office, regretted the U.S. decision but expressed understanding and respect, adding that they welcomed Craft’s visit at an appropriate time in the future.

Earlier, the Chinese government said it was firmly opposed to the trip. Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council in Beijing, urged Washington to stop official correspondence in any format with Taiwan.

Now that the visit would not go ahead, it should please both the governments in Taipei and Beijing, said Chinese academic and current affairs commentator Deng Yuwen.

Taiwan likely heaved a sigh of relief because the trip would not bring any concrete changes in its relationship with the Americans and yet would trigger unfriendly action from the mainland Chinese, Deng told Apple Daily.

The Beijing government would also be happy as it did not need to make further military moves that might escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait at the moment, he said.

Nevertheless, U.S.-Taiwanese ties were expected to remain unchanged, Deng said, adding that Taiwan was still in an important position so long as Sino-U.S. relations did not improve, with Joe Biden likely to continue Washington’s strategy of playing the Taiwan card to counter mainland China.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play