Raymond Greene, the former U.S. deputy chief of mission in Tokyo, assumed the role of de facto U.S. ambassador to Taiwan on Tuesday, according to the top American agency on the island.
It is Greene's third posting in the territory, having last served as deputy director of the American Institute in Taiwan between 2018 and 2021. He most recently served at the U.S. embassy in Japan from 2021, AIT said in a statement.
He replaced Sandra Oudkirk, who worked as AIT's Taipei director for three years.
Greene has spent his 28-year career advancing U.S. diplomatic, economic, and security engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, and he "looks forward to building on the successes of his predecessors and to further advancing the rock-solid U.S.-Taiwan partnership," AIT said.
AIT, headquartered in Virginia just outside the U.S. capital, represents U.S. interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties. Washington is one of Taipei's most important arms suppliers and trade partners.
© KYODO
14 Comments
TaiwanIsNotChina
Good to see the critical alliance between the US and Taiwan advancing.
JJE
Important to crucially note this is an 'ambassador' to an entity that lacks UN recognition and is not a valid, independent state.
Legality of this is somewhat dubious under international law, which means it does not comply with it.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Important to crucially note that China is responsible for the disgusting situation at the UN and it has no bearing on Taiwan's de facto independence.
JJE
Illegal independence is illegal independence. If it's against international law then it's in violation and the conduct is illegal.
Always important to remember the UNSC voted to boot Taipei out and give it to Beijing.
No one opposed it, a bit like United Nations Security Council Resolution 21 or KFOR even.
Sh1mon M4sada
No, the UN voted to recognise the CCP (Beijing), but it wss silence on Taipei. USA was victorious when Japan surrendered, for all intent and purposes, USA could declare Taiwan as prize of conquest any time, like Russia has declared nortgern island as its prize (with suppirt of China).
JJE
...you mean the Yalta Agreement.
isabelle
As covered above, and many times before: 1) the lack of recognition is entirely down to the CCP's threat of invasion, 2) it doesn't matter.
The problem here is 100% China, 0% Taiwan.
And which "international law" are you talking about here? Please quote the exact law.
To me, there's nothing illegal, or even dubious, about appointing a director of the American Institute in Taiwan.
deanzaZZR
The correct title is Director. Raymond Greene and his staff should confine their work to consulate work for American citizens living in Taiwan and commerce as agreed to by the PRC and the USA in the two countries' agreements in the 1970s.
As the Shanghai Communique clear reads, politics is to be decided by the Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. By the Chinese themselves. Quit meddling in the internal affairs of another nation.
"The US side declared: The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States Government does not challenge that position. It reaffirms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves."
isabelle
1) Invasion and annexation, as the PRC is threatening, is not politics but military action. That is everyone's business.
2) Taiwan wants to settle this matter through politics, but the CCP refuses to meet with the duly elected DPP.
In both cases (and in the case I cite above), the CCP is the root of the problem.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Yes, you would like that wouldn't you. Fortunately there are also arms deals to be made.
There are very few Chinese left on the island of Taiwan. Quit plotting to destroy a country of 24 million people.
A nonsensical statement when it was first made and more so today, but you have to check the box to get the access to the market.
deanzaZZR
Reagan's White House agreed to decrease arms sales to Taiwan over time. White Man speaks with forked tongue, indeed.
The United States Government states that it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, that its arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms, the level of those supplied in recent years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, and that it intends to reduce gradually its sales of arms to Taiwan, leading over a period of time to a final resolution. US China joint communique August 17, 1982
https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/united-states-china-joint-communique-united-states-arms-sales-taiwan
Sh1mon M4sada
&
LOL, ROFL, do you appreciate the contradiction of your own arguments?
Do you see the irony in Xi declaring civil war on Taiwan & the CCP restoring territorial integrity? LOL, ROTFL....
Do you see the difference between China claiming the entire SCS and 'tge meddling in other countries' affairs? ROTFL
....and China and supporters wonders why it constantly has to 'march'...LOL, you can't make thus stuff up, what comes out....LOL
isabelle
Your information is from over forty years ago.
Things tend to change when an adversary (and China is, despite the diplomatic niceties) assumes an aggressive posture, implements the fastest and most opaque military build-up since WWII, and repeatedly lies to you (ex. we won't militarize the SCS, we have ratified UNCLOS, we'll honor the Sino-British Joint Declaration, we won't cyber attack you, we'll provide full disclosure on COVID-19, etc. etc. etc.)
TaiwanIsNotChina
Reagan didn't know that China would have a bit of economic success while having zero political reform. This was the height of Bide Your Time deception.
Aw, you poor baby. Maybe don't make unreasonable demands in the first place.