⁠

US Undersecretary of State Keith Krach alights from an aircraft after landing at the Sungshan airport in Taipei on Thursday. Photo: AFP

US Under Secretary for Economic Growth Keith Krach, who visited the island of Taiwan in September, will lead economic talks with the island this month in the US, which Chinese experts condemned as a further provocation of the Chinese mainland, and a violation of the one-China principle.

Experts said Trump's decision to hold talks with the island of Taiwan after his election defeat aims to leave a "tricky problem" for the new US administration, signaling that the change in regime won't affect the US strategy of using Taiwan to constrain the Chinese mainland. They warned the Taiwan regional authority against vainly hoping to benefit from the talks, saying that the talks could bring losses to them.

Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, on Wednesday urged the US to stop conducting official exchanges with the island of Taiwan, and warned the US not to harm China-US ties as well as the stability and peace across the Taiwan Straits.

Media quoted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as saying on Tuesday that Krach would lead the Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue with the island of Taiwan on November 20. He said the talks would include ensuring safe and secure supply chains and 5G security.

Reuters quoted Taiwan's representative office in Washington as saying that Chen Chern-chyi, who is the deputy head in charge of economic affairs in the island, would lead Taiwan's delegation to Washington for the talks.

The talks, a "return visit" after Krach made a trip to Taiwan in September, are a further provocation against the mainland, experts said.

It shows that the US is determined to push forward official exchanges with the island of Taiwan and publicly push back against China's bottom line on the Taiwan question, Yang Lixian, a research fellow at the Beijing-based Research Center of Cross-Straits Relations, told the Global Times. 

Li Xiaobing, an expert on Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan affairs from Nankai University in Tianjin, echoed with Yang, noting that the talks showed that despite the upcoming power transition, the "warming ties" between the US and the island of Taiwan would continue, as Taiwan is a strategic pawn for the US to constrain the Chinese mainland.

The US is making a gesture to implement cooperation with the island of Taiwan on safe and secure supply chains and 5G security through the talks, which could stymie similar cooperation between the mainland and Taiwan, Li said.

However, he noted that Taiwan could end up with gaining nothing if it gives up the irreplaceable mainland market and turns to cooperating with the US.

Yang said that Trump's decision to hold talks with the island of Taiwan after his election defeat is aimed at creating a "tricky problem" for the new US administration.

Trump intends to carry on with his harsh anti-China diplomatic policy and impose it on the new administration, Yang said.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden is highly likely to strengthen ties with the island of Taiwan, Li noted.

Last month, Frank Jannuzi, a key Biden aide, wrote that Washington should prioritize free trade negotiations with Taiwan to encourage others, including the UK, the EU and Japan, to follow suit, Reuters reported on Wednesday.