Taiwan’s top China policymaker Andrew Hsia is set to visit Washington, DC in mid-July. It will be Hsia’s first trip to the United States since he took office as Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) minister in February.
A Washington-based think tank, the Brookings Institution, says that Hsia is scheduled to attend its symposium on cross-strait relations on July 13th. Hsia is expected to deliver a speech at the symposium, to be hosted by one of the think tank’s senior fellows, Richard Bush.
The Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), Raymond Burghardt, will also attend the symposium. The AIT is the de facto US embassy in Taiwan in the absence of official ties.
It’s been reported that Hsia’s Chinese counterpart, Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun, is also planning to visit the United States in July.
But Hsia said Thursday that his own trip to the US is a routine visit, and that the timing of the two visits is simply a coincidence.