The White House was concerned about the separation of Taiwan and China on the map at a conference hosted by the US.
A video feed of a Taiwanese minister during US President Joe Biden’s Democracy summit last week was cropped when a map in her slide presentation showed Taiwan in a different color to China, which is claiming the island as its own. claims to be.
Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that US officials were furious after Taiwan’s digital minister Audrey Tang appeared on Friday’s slideshow for the map in their video feeds for nearly a minute.
The source, who did not wish to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the video feed showing Tang was cut during a panel discussion and replaced with audio-only – at the behest of the White House.
The White House was concerned that the separation of Taiwan and China on the map at a conference hosted by the US – for which Taiwan was invited in a show of support when it was under intense pressure from Beijing – could be seen as obstacles. With Washington’s “one-China” policy, the sources said, refraining from taking a position on whether Taiwan is part of China or not.
The State Department said Tang’s video feed was removed as a result of “confusion” over the screen-sharing, calling it “an honest mistake”.
“We value the participation of Minister Tang, who demonstrated Taiwan’s world-class expertise on issues of transparent governance, human rights and countering propaganda,” a spokesman said.
Tang’s presentation included a colour-coded map of South African NGO Civics, ranking the world based on openness to civil rights.
Most of Asia was shown with Taiwan green, making it the only regional entity depicted as “open,” while all others, including many American allies and partners, were labeled “closed,” “repressed,” “open.” Interrupted”. or “compressed.”
China, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea were painted red and labeled “closed”.
When the moderator returned to Tang a few minutes later, there was no video, only audio, and a screenshot titled: “Minister Audrey Tang Taiwan.” An onscreen disclaimer later declared: “Any opinions expressed by individuals on this panel are those of the individual, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government.”
A source told Reuters that the map generated an instant email flurry among US officials and the White House National Security Council (NSC) angrily contacted the State Department, concerned it shows Taiwan as a separate country.
Washington complained to the Taiwanese government, which in turn was furious that Tang’s video had been hacked.
The source called the US an over-reaction because the map was not inherently about national boundaries, but the NSC was also annoyed because the slide was not visible in “dry-run” versions of the presentation prior to the summit, on Was asking questions. Was the message intentionally sent by Tang and Taiwan.
About the White House’s response, the source said: “He died.”
A second source directly involved in the summit said the video booth operator acted on instructions from the White House. “It was clearly a policy concern,” the source said, “it was purely an internal redundancy.”
Sources saw the move during a panel on “countering digital authoritarianism” with the summit’s mission to strengthen democracy to meet the challenges of China and others. He also said it could indicate that the administration’s support for Taiwan was not “rock solid” as it has repeatedly stated.
An NSC spokesman said Reuters’ account of the incident was “incorrect”.
“The White House never directed that Minister Tang’s video feed be cut,” the spokesperson said in an email, alleging confusion over screen-sharing and adding that the full video can be viewed on the Summit web page. .
Asked if he believed the slides caused the US government to cut the video, Tang told Reuters in an email: “No, I don’t think it has anything to do with the CIVICUS map on my slides- Has to give, or it has nothing to do with US allies in Asia. Matter.”
Taiwan’s foreign ministry attributed it to “technical problems”.
The issue comes at a highly sensitive time for US-Taiwan relations, when some Biden administration critics and foreign policy experts are calling for a more candid show of support for the island, including a long-standing swathe of “strategic ambiguity”. Including terminating the incoming policy. whether the United States will defend it militarily.
Experts in Taiwan said they did not see the map’s colour-coding as a violation of unofficial US guidelines, which use open symbols of sovereignty such as the flag of Taiwan.
“This was not meant to isolate sovereignty, but the degree of democratic expression,” said Douglas Pal, a former unofficial US ambassador to Taiwan.
Under US government guidelines as of 2020, US government maps showing sovereignty by color are required to show Taiwan with the same color as China, although exceptions are “when the context requires that Taiwan specifically be separated.”
Bonnie Glaser of the German Marshall Fund for the United States said the guidelines would not apply to non-US government maps, “but the US would like to refrain from supporting that Taiwan is not part of China.”
“It seems to me that there was a decision from the very beginning that Taiwan can/should be included in the Summit of Democracy, but only in line with US policy.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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