Offices of the new American Instituteto open next week will further strain to relations after spats over trade and South China Sea

South China Morning Post 
Date: 08 June, 2018
By: Sarah Zheng

The ceremony for the unveiling of a US$240 million office compound for the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy on the island in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, could light another match in already tense relations between the world powers.

The scale of any fallout may partly depend on the rank of the US officials who attend the opening.

Washington is expected to walk a fine line with its guest list for the dedication ceremony on June 12, the same day as the high-stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore to discuss scrapping Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

Sources with ties to the US and Chinese government told the South China Morning Post earlier this month that no cabinet level official from the Trump administration would attend the event to avoid further antagonising Beijing.    [FULL  STORY]