Joe Biden to send delegation to Taipei after Taiwan’s election

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President Joe Biden plans to send a high-level delegation of former top officials to Taipei after the election in Taiwan on Saturday, a move that could complicate efforts by the US and China to stabilise their strained relationship.

The White House has tapped James Steinberg, a former Democratic deputy secretary of state, and Stephen Hadley, a former Republican national security adviser, to lead the bipartisan delegation, according to five people familiar with the plans.

Earlier in his administration, Biden dispatched two high-level delegations of former officials to Taipei to reassure Taiwan about US support in the face of pressure from Beijing. But sending such a delegation immediately after a presidential election is unusual — and will probably anger Beijing.

The Chinese embassy in Washington responded to the Financial Times report of the delegation by saying that China “firmly opposes the US having any form of official contact with the Taiwan region”. It called on the Biden administration to “stop sending wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and refrain from interfering in elections in the Taiwan region in any form”.

Taiwan’s election pits Lai Ching-te, the ruling Democratic Progressive party candidate, against Hou Yu-ih, for the main opposition Kuomintang party, and Ko Wen-je from the Taiwan People’s party. China is extremely wary of Lai, who is associated with the wing of the DPP that advocates formalising Taiwan’s de facto independence.

The mission also comes as the US and China try to stabilise ties that have been mired in their worst state since the countries normalised diplomatic relations in 1979. Biden held a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November at which they talked about the need to ease turbulence in the relationship.

One former US official said Biden’s decision…