AIT: US Wants No Repeat of ROC Flag-raising at Twin Oaks

 AIT: US Wants No Repeat of ROC Flag-raising at Twin Oaks

Sources: All Taipei Newspapers

January 9, 2015

The raising of the ROC flag on January, 2015, at the Twin Oaks Estate in Washington, D.C. continues to cause ripples between the ROC and the US. American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on the morning of January 8 made three statements through e-mail to individual media outlets, emphasizing that the US did not approve or know about the January 1 flag-raising at Twin Oaks in advance, and hoped the ROC would ensure that [in the words of the Central News Agency] “these kinds of things do not happen again.”

According to AIT statements, although the flag-raising ceremony at the Twin Oaks was held for the first time after the ROC and US diplomatic ties severed in 1979, what the TECRO (the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office) had done provoked dissatisfactions in the US, and undermined the tacit understanding in zero surprises between the two sides. A flag-raising ceremony at the Twin Oaks would probably no longer be seen in the short run.

According to media reports, the flag-raising ceremony that took place at the Twin Oaks damaged the mutual trust between Taipei and Washington. US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki, in daily press briefings, expressed US position on various issues, including the flag-raising ceremony held at the Twin Oaks, on three consecutive days.

AIT, in addition, released three statements on January 8. AIT firstly stated that the US did not approve the flag-raising ceremony held at the Twin Oaks on January 1, adding that Washington did not approve or know about the January 1 flag-raising in advance. Secondly, the US was disappointed with this act, and had already raised its serious concerns with senior Taiwan authorities in Taipei and Washington. Thirdly, the US stated that it hoped that Taiwan would demonstrate the priority it put on the US-Taiwan relationship by ensuring that these kinds of things not happen again in the future.

According to media reports, although President Ma Ying-jeou has been in office for six years, the US sternly criticized the Ma administration for the first time owing to the diplomatic ripples caused by the flag-raising ceremony. Kurt M. Campbell, former US Assistance Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs originally intended to eliminate some restrictions imposed on Taiwan in the use of the Twin Oaks Estate. However, as a result of the flag-raising ceremony, no breakthrough was expected to be made in the short term.

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