Here's why US stopped Taiwan Min's virtual Summit for Democracy address abruptly

During the recently concluded US President Joe Biden's Summit for Democracy from last week, a video feed of Taiwan’s minister Audrey Tang was stopped after a map in her slideshow presentation displayed Taiwan in a different colour than China, which indicated Taiwan as its own. In the virtual summit, Tang had exhibited a map from the South African NGO CIVICUS, which has presented the world in colour codes like green or red, based on civil rights records of openness. Other Asian nations were categorised as "closed," "repressed," "obstructed," or "narrowed," but Taiwan was labelled as "green" or "open," The Hill reported.  

As per the inside sources, the colour-coded map that showed Taiwan in a different hue than China caused serious concern among White House officials. It is worth noting that China, Laos, Vietnam, as well as North Korea were all marked "closed" and were coloured red. The video feed of Tang was purportedly cut, keeping only the audio, due to the sensitivities around the "one China policy," Taiwan News cited a Reuters report. According to media reports, White House officials were concerned that this map might jeopardise Washington's "one-China" policy.  

The interruption in the video was 'an honest mistake': US

The United States has a policy of "strategic ambiguity" when it comes to Taiwanese sovereignty, which means it does not take a stand on whether Taiwan is a part of China or not. It does, however, acknowledge the "one-China" policy, which states that the People's Republic of China is China's sole government, The Hill reported. Furthermore, after the video ended, a disclaimer came on the screen which stated, “Any opinions expressed by individuals on this panel are those of the individual, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States government,” as per i24 News. 

The US State Department, on the other hand, claimed that the film was removed due to "an honest mistake," and that the nation has respected Minister Tang's involvement, which demonstrated Taiwan's world-class experience on problems of open government, human rights, and combatting disinformation. Meanwhile, Audrey Tang also stated that she did not believe that the cut was done intentionally due to her presentation, while the Taiwanese foreign ministry claimed the interruption as technical difficulty, i24 News reported. 

In addition to this, on Friday, while speaking spoke at the virtual Democracy Summit, President Biden emphasised the importance of making democracies more transparent, responsible, and robust to the buffering forces of despotism. Biden appreciated everyone in his concluding comments for attending the two-day summit and for reiterating their commitment to the shared ideals that are the foundation of national and international strength. He reaffirmed the democratic norms that underpin the international system and have served as “foundational elements of global growth and prosperity,” as per media reports. 

(Image: Twitter/ @audreyt/ AP)