Unofficial US embassy in Taiwan names new director, Beijing critic Raymond Greene
- Greene, an envoy who has criticised Beijing’s military operations in the Indo-Pacific, will succeed Sandra Oudkirk as head of the American Institute in Taiwan
- He served as AIT’s deputy director in Taipei for about three years before his most recent assignment as deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Tokyo
A senior Tokyo-based US diplomat who has been critical of Beijing’s military operations in the Indo-Pacific region will soon take over as director of the de facto US embassy to Taiwan.
The appointment follows a general election on the self-ruled island in January that has heightened cross-strait tensions.
Raymond Greene, who has served as deputy chief of mission in Washington’s Tokyo embassy since July 2021, will succeed Sandra Oudkirk as director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Taipei office this summer, AIT said on Wednesday.
The career foreign service officer and diplomat has held a previous post at AIT, which is funded by the US State Department and meant to manage Washington’s unofficial relationship with the island. He served as AIT’s deputy director in Taipei for about three years before his most recent post in Tokyo.
Greene was also a diplomat in China, serving as consul general in Chengdu for nearly three years, a stint that ended in 2017.
