To avoid Bejing’s ire, Donald Trump won’t send high-level officials to opening of de facto embassy in Taiwan

When the American Institute in Taiwan – the unofficial US embassy in Taipei – opens its new offices on June 12, the Trump administration will refrain from sending any cabinet-level officials to the ceremony, three sources have told the South China Morning Post.

That message was conveyed by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to his Chinese counterparts – including Vice-Premier Liu He – during trade negotiations in Beijing in May, one of the sources said.

Mnuchin assured the Chinese side that no cabinet-level official would attend the ceremony, this source said, adding that the Taiwan issue was discussed separately from recent trade talks.

The sources, who have ties to both the American and Chinese governments, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the Trump administration’s plans.

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) is a non-profit organisation financed by the US government that acts on its behalf, and has maintained unofficial ties with Taiwan since 1979, when the United States severed diplomatic ties with the island as part of its recognition of the People’s Republic of China.

The AIT event would constitute the rare occasion a high-level US official might attend, but such a visit might anger China and lead it to take strong action in response – even, one source suggested, the expulsion of the US ambassador from Beijing.

There has been speculation that the US would send a representative to the ceremony, especially since the US seems to be revisiting its relations with Taiwan during the Trump administration.