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NewsRescue
According to Taiwan News, the US State Department’s official website has removed a reference to Taiwan as a ‘country’ in its travel advisory section.
According to the Taipei-based news outlet, the term ‘country information page’ was deleted from the State Department’s website on Tuesday and replaced with a link to a section now dubbed ‘Taiwan international travel information.’
A spokesperson for the American Institute in Taiwan, which serves as an unofficial de-facto US embassy on the disputed territory, declined to comment on the reasons for the switch, but told Taiwan News that official US policy on Taiwan remains unchanged.
According to Taiwan News, the US State Department often changes sections of its website, and it has “longstanding, strong, bipartisan US support for Taiwan in line with our One-China policy.”
The US formally recognizes Beijing’s One-China policy, which asserts that China’s territory has only one legitimate government and that Taiwan is a renegade province from the mainland. Washington, on the other hand, maintains informal links with self-governing Taipei and frequently supplies it with armaments that it claims are defensive in character.
The Biden administration approved the sale of $440 million in weaponry to Taiwan in June, provoking a sharp criticism from Beijing officials. The arrangement is “creating tensions and undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” claimed China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning in June.
Washington passed the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979, which legally forces the US to furnish Taipei with defense armaments. It further declares that “the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means.”
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister informed Taiwan News that the country has no comment on the adjustments made to the US State Department’s website. It did, however, stress that the island is still an autonomous democratic country.
