Business Standard
Date: April 6, 2019

In what is largely being touted as a policy shift, the United States will be moving its de facto embassy with its 500-strong staff to a new USD 255 million worth site next month in Taipei, Taiwan.

This move comes amidst growing pressure from China, which regards Taiwan as a wayward province. China has made repeated calls for reunification, especially after pro-democracy candidate Tsai Ing-wen took over as Taiwan’s President in 2016.

“The US representative office in Taiwan has become a lot more high-profile since Trump became President in 2016, compared to the previous period when it did all it could to stay as low-key as possible,” South China Morning Post quoted Wang Kung-yi, a political science professor at Taipei’s Chinese Culture University as saying.

The US Embassy was previously located on the former site of the US Military Assistance Advisory Group in Taiwan, which was established to defend the island nation from any military action from China before 1979.    [FULL  STORY]