WASHINGTON, January 11. /TASS/. The United States intends to send an "unofficial delegation" to Taiwan after the island’s election coming up on Saturday, a high-profile US official told a telephone briefing ahead of Taiwan’s presidential vote.

"We intend to send an unofficial delegation after the Taiwan election, we're not in a position to confirm the timing of the delegation or the participants, in part because, contrary to press reports, some of this is still being decided," the US official said. According to her, "given our [the United States’] unofficial relationship with Taiwan, we [Washington] often send these high-level unofficial delegations of former government officials to Taipei."

She said this was nothing new as the US has "a decades-long tradition of doing so." "It is, of course, consistent with the `one China policy’, consistent with the status quo and timed after the election to ensure that we are not endorsing one candidate or one party over the other," she continued. The US official underscored that the goal behind sending an unofficial delegation would be "to ensure that we are communicating clearly to both the President Elect but also the other candidates as well, about the importance of <…> strong, unofficial partnership, being clear about what the `one China’ policy is and what it is not."

"It's exactly the type of engagement that contributes to peace and stability, in our view," she continued.

Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949. Beijing regards the island as one of its provinces. Taiwanese voters will choose their next president and legislature on January 13. Tsai Ing-wen, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, has been serving as Taiwan’s president since 2016. In 2024, she will conclude her second and final term.