South China Morning Post
Date: 10 Jun, 2019
By: Lawrence Chung

Lieutenant General H. Stacy Clardy III exchanges gifts with Major General Liu Erh-jung during the symposium in Honolulu on Wednesday. Photo: US Marine Corps Forces, Pacific

The US Pacific Marine Corps has released photos showing a Taiwanese major general and a flag with the island’s emblem at an annual gathering of military leaders from the Indo-Pacific region, in another move certain to infuriate Beijing.

Major General Liu Erh-jung’s attendance at the Pacific Amphibious Leaders Symposium last week was the latest in a series of moves that Taipei said demonstrated closer relations with Washington.

They include Taiwan being on a list of “countries” in a US Department of Defence report on its Indo-Pacific strategy released on June 1. And two days earlier, the White House posted on Instagram a photo of US President Donald Trump congratulating US Air Force Academy graduates – with Taiwan’s flag among those in the background.

In Taipei, some lawmakers said they were the latest signs that ties between Taipei and Washington were normalising. But analysts said that while the gestures showed relations were improving, they should not be seen as evidence Washington planned to normalise ties with the self-ruled island as it was highly unlikely the US would want to go that far.
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