The wording on Taiwan independence was also removed in 2022, before being restored a month later.. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The U.S. State Department has removed a statement on its website that it does not support Taiwan independence, among changes that the island’s government praised on Sunday (February 16, 2025) as supporting Taiwan.

The fact sheet on Taiwan retains Washington’s opposition to unilateral change from either Taiwan or from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own.

But as well as dropping the phrase “we do not support Taiwan independence”, the page has added a reference to Taiwan’s cooperation with a Pentagon technology and semiconductor development project and says the U.S. will support Taiwan’s membership in international organisations “where applicable”.

The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its strongest international backer, bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

“We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side,” the State Department website reads in the update posted on Thursday, February 13, 2025. “We expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the (Taiwan) Strait.”

“Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung “welcomed the support and positive stance on U.S.-Taiwan relations demonstrated in the relevant content” of the website,” his ministry said in a statement on Sunday, February 16, 2025.

The State Department and China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside office hours.

The language changes were first reported by Taiwan’s official Central News Agency on Sunday, February 16, 2025. The wording on Taiwan independence was also removed in 2022, before being restored a month later.

Taiwan’s Government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future. Taiwan says it is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name.

Beijing describes Taiwan as its “core of core interests”, regularly denouncing any shows of support for Taipei from Washington.

While U.S. President Donald Trump has unnerved Taiwan since taking office last month with criticism of Taiwan’s dominance in making semiconductors, his administration has otherwise offered strong words of support for Taiwan.

Last week, the first U.S. Navy ships sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait since Trump’s inauguration.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a separate statement that a Canadian warship, the Ottawa, had sailed through the strait on Sunday, February 16, 2025.

Canada’s Department of National Defence did not respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan has faced stepped-up military pressure from Beijing, including almost daily forays by Chinese warplanes and warships into the waters and skies around the island.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said that on Sunday (February 16, 2025) it had detected 24 Chinese military aircraft carrying out a “joint combat readiness patrol” along with Chinese warships around Taiwan.

China’s Defence Ministry did not answer calls seeking comment on the State Department website, the Canadian warship or the renewed military activity.

Washington:

China’s military could isolate Taiwan, cripple its economy, and compel the democratic island to submit to Beijing’s Communist Party without firing a shot, CNN reported citing a Washington think tank.

Concerns about the Communist Party’s intentions to take control of Taiwan, potentially by force, have intensified due to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s increasingly aggressive stance towards the self-governed island. China’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has further fueled these fears.

According to CNN, analysts and military strategists said that there are two key options available to China – a full-scale invasion or a military blockade.

However, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington highlights a third option: quarantine. This method, using “gray zone” tactics, involves actions just below the threshold of war. The China Coast Guard, its maritime militia, and various police and maritime safety agencies could enforce a full or partial quarantine of Taiwan, potentially cutting off access to its ports and essential supplies, such as energy, for the island’s 23 million people.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might play only auxiliary and support roles, according to CSIS authors Bonny Lin, Brian Hart, Matthew Funaiole, Samantha Lu, and Truly Tinsley.

“China has significantly increased pressure on Taiwan in recent years, stoking fears that tensions could erupt into outright conflict. Much attention has been paid to the threat of an invasion, but Beijing has options besides invading to coerce, punish, or annex Taiwan,” the report says.

Recently, China’s Minister of National Defence Admiral Dong Jun warned “external forces” for emboldening Taiwan Independence separatists in an attempt to contain China with Taiwan and said that these malicious intentions are dragging Taiwan into a dangerous situation.”

He said that anyone who dares to separate Taiwan from China will “end up in self-destruction.”He accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities of pursuing Taiwan’s separation in an incremental manner and added that they are bent on erasing the Chinese identity of Taiwan.

Since September 2020, China has intensified its use of gray zone tactics by increasing the number of military aircraft and naval ships that operate near Taiwan’s territory.Gray zone tactics are called “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resort to direct and sizable use of force,” according to Taiwan News.

This latest incident adds to a series of similar provocations by China in recent months. China has increased its military activities around Taiwan, including regular air and naval incursions into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, has long been a contentious issue in China’s foreign policy. China continues to assert its sovereignty over Taiwan and considers it a part of its territory and insists on eventual reunification, by force if necessary.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)