In a move that will certainly anger China, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced Thursday matching bills in both House of Representatives and the Senate that would require the United States to negotiate to rename Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington.
The idea behind the bills is to direct the Secretary of State to ‘convince’ Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), which is currently using the name of the island’s capital city, to change its name into Taiwan Representative Office.
The Senate bill was sponsored by the GOP Senator Marco Rubio and by Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, while the House version was introduced by Republican John Curtis and Democrat Chris Pappas.
Rubio stressed that the US must make clear that hostile powers have no right to claim democratic countries’ sovereignty despite all efforts by Beijing to intimidate and coerce Taiwan.
Menendez, on the other side, emphasized that both bills are in line with the Taiwan Relations Act defining the US unofficial ties with Taiwan.
The US is Taiwan’s most prominent international backer although, like most countries, it does not have official ties with the democratically governed island.
However, any change in the TECRO’s name would certainly create a new rift in US-China relations that are already seriously damaged by the US efforts to push back against the growing economic and military coercion of China.
The renaming of the office is a subject that Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been mentioning since September 2021.
Media reports saying that the US was seriously considering Taiwan’s request to change the name of its mission also noted the issue was first discussed by the two countries toward the end of former US President Trump’s term in office, while Taiwan made a formal request to the Biden administration in March.
The White House and US State Department, and China’s embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to requests for comment. China chafes at any international references to Taiwan it suggests the island is its own country.
Beijing, which has never renounced the use of force to ensure eventual unification with Taiwan, calls the island’s status the most sensitive issue in U.S.-China relations and the basis for ties between the two superpowers.
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