TAIWAN: Absorbing the Painful Blow

Rising confidence on an island republic

In a back alley in Taipei on April 16, a new era began in American diplomacy. Fifty former staffers of the U.S. embassy in Taipei quietly opened the American Institute in Taiwan, taking over quarters that had once been occupied by the U.S. military. In the Taiwan Relations Act, passed by Congress in March, the institute is described as "a nongovernmental entity incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia." In fact, it carries out virtually all of the functions of the old U.S. embassy, which...

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