TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday (Sept. 22) rejected opposition claims that relations with the United States face "severe challenges," with a spokesman citing continued official exchanges even as a New York Times report revealed that some Taiwanese officials have been asked to reduce visits to Washington think tanks.
The pushback came hours after the opposition Kuomintang (國民黨), or KMT, seized on the report to argue that Taiwan-U.S. ties are deteriorating, two days before Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House.
"I don't feel that Taiwan-U.S. relations currently face severe challenges," MOFA spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said at a regular briefing.
Asked about the Times report that some Taiwan officials had been told to curtail visits to Washington research groups, Hsiao did not confirm or deny the account. "I don't know the source of this information," he said, pivoting to the attendance of Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Isabel Hou (侯宜秀) at the Pax Silica Summit in Washington in June as evidence that communication channels "have always been open."
KMT spokesman Chen Yi-hsin (陳以信) cited President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) inability to transit through the U.S. mainland, delayed arms sales, and the reported restrictions on think tank visits as "warning signs."
The Times report, published Monday, cited Ryan Hass, a former National Security Council fellow now at the Brookings Institution, as saying Taiwanese officials "have been told by Trump administration officials to curtail their visits to research groups in Washington."
Trump has not approved a proposed US$14 billion (around NT$443 billion) arms sales package since his May summit with Xi in Beijing, where Xi warned that mishandling tensions over Taiwan could be "extremely dangerous." Hsiao said, "The U.S. has repeatedly emphasized that arms sales are continuing."
But the government's confidence may not be widely shared. A survey released Monday by the United Daily News (聯合報) found that 47 percent of respondents lacked confidence that the United States would continue providing Taiwan with military assistance and arms sales, while 44 percent expressed confidence.
Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), are scheduled to arrive at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday evening Washington time (Thursday morning in Taiwan), where Trump will greet them. The state visit includes an arrival ceremony with 479 service members on the White House South Lawn on Thursday morning, followed by bilateral talks and a state dinner. A B-2 bomber and four F-22 fighter jets will conduct a flyover. The visit concludes Friday.
Speaking at a forum Monday on the summit, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (陸委會) Deputy Minister Shen Yu-chung (沈有忠) said U.S. policy toward Taiwan "will not fundamentally change," but warned Beijing may use the meetings to spread "pessimistic and defeatist narratives" to divide Taiwan-U.S. relations and conduct "cognitive warfare" targeting Trump personally. ◼ (At time of reporting, US$1 equals approximately NT$31.68)