Taiwan welcomes ‘positive’ wording on U.S. government website about island

Taipei –

Taiwan on Sunday praised the “positive and friendly” wording about the island on the U.S. State Department’s updated website, which has removed the phrase that Washington does “not support Taiwan independence.”

The United States has long been Taiwan’s most important backer, despite dropping diplomatic recognition of the self-ruled island in 1979 to establish formal relations with an ascendant China.

Official language used to describe U.S.-Taiwan relations is highly sensitive and previous changes to the State Department’s fact sheet on the island have provoked an angry response from China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.