US Removes Line on Not Supporting Taiwan Independence From Fact Sheet

February 17, 2025 TruthUSA

The State Department said on Sunday that the change was part of a routine effort to inform the public about the U.S.’s ‘unofficial relationship’ with Taiwan.

The U.S. State Department has recently removed a line from its website’s fact sheet that previously said the United States does not support Taiwan’s independence.

The fact sheet, published on Feb. 13 following President Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Jan. 20, removed the phrase “we do not support Taiwan independence.”

“We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side,” the updated fact sheet stated. “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 Strait.

“We continue to have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

It affirmed the U.S. commitment to make “available defense articles and services as necessary” to help Taiwan maintain its self-defense capability, including the capacity to resist “any resort to force or other forms of coercion” that could threaten its security and Taiwanese people.

The page also revised a line regarding the U.S. stance on Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, saying that it will support Taiwan’s membership “where applicable.”

The State Department said on Sunday that the change was part of a routine effort to “inform the general public about our unofficial relationship with Taiwan.”

“The United States is committed to preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement to multiple news outlets.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has not yet issued a statement on the fact sheet changes.

In 2022, the former Biden administration similarly removed the line on Taiwan’s independence from the State Department’s fact sheet, but it was later reinstated after the Chinese regime denounced the change as “political manipulation.”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has never ruled Taiwan, considers the self-governed island to be a renegade province and has never ruled out the possibility of using force to control it.

The United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to provide the island with the necessary capabilities to maintain its self-defense.

According to Washington’s “One China” policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the United States acknowledges but does not endorse Beijing’s competing ”One China” principle, which asserts that Taiwan is part of China and must be unified with the mainland by any means necessary.

Taiwanese foreign minister Lin Chia-lung on Sunday welcomed the updated fact sheet and thanked Washington for its “support and positive stance on U.S.-Taiwan relations.”

Lin also issued a statement on Feb. 16 praising the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, and South Korea for their joint statement calling for maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

The three nations said they oppose “any attempts to unilaterally force or coerce changes to the status quo” and expressed support for Taiwan’s participation in “appropriate international organizations.”

Lin stated that Taiwan “welcomes the international community’s continued attention to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” amid concerns over “the threat posed to the status quo by China’s gray area and economic coercion.”

The CCP has ramped up its military activity around Taiwan in recent years. In the face of an ongoing campaign of military intimidation, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry reported spotting 41 Chinese warplanes, nine vessels, and one official ship operating around the island on Feb. 17. The ministry stated that 28 of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), prompting Taiwan to deploy its aircraft to monitor their movement.

After Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, the U.S. Navy deployed the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship USNS Bowditch through the Taiwan Strait from Feb. 10 to Feb. 12. Observers said the deployment of two Navy ships shows the continuity of U.S. policy in the Taiwan Strait.

Reuters and Alex Wu contributed to this report.

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