New shine on US-Taiwan ties with trip by top Pentagon brass

Heino Klinck’s visit to the island is in apparent response to concerns that Beijing is pressuring Taipei in the run-up to January’s elections

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Deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia Heino Klinck is the first senior American defence official to visit Taiwan since Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979. Photo: EPA

Published: 5:00am, 26 Nov 2019Updated: 6:16am, 26 Nov 2019

The United States has sent a senior Pentagon official to Taiwan amid concerns that Beijing is trying to influence the island’s presidential election, which takes place in January.

Deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia Heino Klinck reportedly visited Taiwan last week in an apparent response to US concern about various efforts – including military attempts – by Beijing to intimidate the island ahead of the January 11 poll.

Klinck is the first senior American defence official to visit the island since Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979.

His trip is considered a major elevation in the unofficial but robust US-Taiwan relations, and is expected to infuriate Beijing, which has repeatedly warned Washington against high-level exchanges with Taipei.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a wayward province that must be returned to the mainland’s fold, by force if necessary. It has asked Washington to observe the one-China policy, and warned that failure to do so would hurt American ties with the mainland.

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