Taiwan’s foreign minister went to the United States this past weekend to discuss the possibility of including “Taiwan” in the name for Taiwan’s representative office in the US capital. Once China learned of the meeting, it called for serious talks with the United States.
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu returned along with National Security official Koo Li-hsiung after they met with the US Deputy White House National Security Advisor to talk about a possible name change for Taiwan’s representative office in the US. American Institute in Taiwan director Sandra Oudkirk also joined the meeting.
On September 11, the Financial Times reported that the White House is ‘seriously considering’ changing the name of Taiwan’s representative office in Washington from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to the Taiwan Representative Office.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian responded by saying the US must not change the office’s name as it would give the wrong signal to Taiwan independence activists.
On Sunday, China’s Global Times editorial said if the US were to go through with the name change, China could retaliate with military and economic actions.
The article said a name change would show that the US has abandoned the “one China” policy. It said the US knows this is no small matter and leaked information about the name change to test China’s response. US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping recently spoke on the phone but this potential name change could cause a major conflict.