US FCC commissioner to visit Taiwan to discuss cybersecurity, telecoms

U.S. Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr will visit Taiwan this week, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan said on Wednesday, the latest senior official from the country to visit the island.

Carr will meet with “Taiwan interlocutors” to discuss issues including telecommunications and cybersecurity from November 2-4, the American Institute in Taiwan said in a statement to Reuters.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry declined to comment. Its National Communications Commission did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

China, which claims the island as its own despite strong objections by Taiwan’s government, has in the past reacted with anger to such official exchanges between Taipei and Washington.

China has stepped up military activities near democratically governed Taiwan since August when it conducted blockade drills around the island following a visit to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Biden administration has sought to keep tensions between Washington and Beijing, inflamed by the visits, from boiling over into a conflict, reiterating that such trips are routine.

The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

China has never ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan’s government says the People’s Republic of China has never ruled the island and so its sovereignty claims are void. Reuters