Taiwan envoy admits U.S. kept in the dark over controversial flag raising

Taiwan's top envoy to the U.S. on Wednesday said that Taiwan did not let U.S. officials know about a flag-raising ceremony on American soil, indicating that by leaving the U.S. in the dark it would give Washington deniability about the controversial matter with China.

Taiwan's de facto embassy in Washington hoisted a Taiwanese flag on New Year's Day, which local media reported was the first such flag-raising since the U.S. switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing in 1979.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island at the end of a civil war with the Communists in 1949.

On Monday, China angrily protested to the United States, Taiwan's biggest political ally, about the matter.

The U.S. State Department said it was not told in advance about the ceremony and that it was inconsistent with U.S. policy.

Shen Lyushun, the representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, told a Taiwanese parliamentary session on Wednesday that Taiwan deliberately did not let Washington know about the flag ceremony.

"We especially did not let them (the U.S.) know. It was a goodwill gesture," Shen said. "If China protests, you can say you didn't know."

Mainland China deems Taiwan a renegade province and has never ruled out the use of force to take it back, particularly if the island makes a move toward independence. Beijing is sensitive about matters, such as the raising of a national flag, that might give Taiwan official sovereign status.

Tags

China, Taiwan, United States, independence

Copyright Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.