TAIPEI – Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US overcame four decades of precedent when she accepted a formal invitation to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration, calming fears on the self-governed island that US support would crumble in the post-Trump era.
Bi-khim Hsiao, Taipei’s top US representative, tweeted a video in which she stood in front of the Capitol building ahead of Mr. Biden’s inauguration on Tuesday, saying she was honored to attend the ceremony.
“Democracy is our common language and freedom is our common goal,” she said.
According to the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the presence of Ms. Hsiao on behalf of the Biden government was the first time Taiwan had been officially represented at a presidential swearing-in since Washington transferred diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. In a tweet, the outgoing chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Idaho Republican Jim Risch, the incoming White House cheered for the invitation.
Beijing views Taiwan as part of Chinese territory and considers the US’s interaction with the democratic, self-governing island to be one of the most sensitive issues in bilateral relations with Washington. Chinese leaders were surprised four years ago when then-elected US President Donald Trump accepted a congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.