US chooses new Taipei envoy, but its Beijing vacancy remains unfilled
- Sandra Oudkirk to succeed Brent Christensen as director of the American Institute in Taiwan’s Taipei office
- Biden administration makes latest move to firm up ties with Taipei, but has not had an ambassador in Beijing since Terry Branstad left in October
Sandra Oudkirk is the incoming director of the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT’s) Taipei office – the de facto US ambassador in the absence of official ties – succeeding Brent Christensen later this summer, the institute said in a statement on Tuesday night.
Oudkirk takes over at a time of significant change in Taiwan’s relationship with the US and Beijing, and with the Biden administration’s slow pace of naming envoys having left the position in Beijing vacant for the past nine months. Washington has sought to beef up its semi-official ties with Taipei in commercial and cultural sectors, to go alongside already robust cooperation in defence, in an effort to push back against what it sees as an increasingly assertive Beijing.
Christian Castro, a former head of Taiwan affairs at the state department, said one of the most important things Oudkirk will need is a belief in Taiwan’s overall strategic importance and its value as a global democratic standard bearer.
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Why has the relationship between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan taken a turn for the worse?
“What really matters now is for the new director to have the resolve to meet this moment,” he said in an email before Tuesday’s announcement. “Given China’s aggression towards Taiwan and hostility towards its democratically elected government, it’s no longer business as usual.”
Oudkirk has previously worked at the AIT and most recently served as US senior official for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping, and as deputy assistant secretary for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. She is the first woman to head the AIT.