Trump’s signing of travel bill pleases Taipei and angers Beijing
Nikkei Asian Review
Date: March 24, 2018
By: KENSAKU IHARA, Nikkei staff writer
TAIPEI — Relations between the U.S. and Taiwan, severed diplomatically about 40 years
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, left, at an event held by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei on March 21. © Reuters
ago, are arriving at a turning point.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act, which allows high-ranking officials to meet with their Taiwanese counterparts and vice versa, into law on March 16. Already having passed Congress, the bill would have automatically gone into effect past that day even if Trump had not signed it.
Trump had the option of not signing as a show of consideration for China, but he acted at the last minute.
The U.S. president has played his “Taiwan card,” said Fan Shih-ping, a professor at National Taiwan Normal University here. [FULL STORY]
