A video feed of a Taiwanese minister was cut during US President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy last week, after a map in her slide presentation showed Taiwan in a different color to China.
Friday’s slide show by Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) caused consternation among US officials after the map appeared in her video feed for about one minute, sources familiar with the matter said.
The sources, who did not want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the video feed showing Tang was cut during a panel discussion and replaced with audio only — at the behest of the White House.
Screen grab from a Summit for Democracy livestream
The White House was concerned that differentiating Taiwan and China on a map in a US-hosted conference — to which Taiwan had been invited in a show of support at a time when it is under intense pressure from Beijing — could be seen as being at odds with Washington’s “one China” policy, which avoids taking a position on whether Taiwan is part of China, the sources said.
The US Department of State said “confusion” over screen-sharing resulted in Tang’s video feed being dropped, calling it “an honest mistake.”
“We valued Minister Tang’s participation, which showcased Taiwan’s world-class expertise on issues of transparent governance, human rights and countering disinformation,” a spokesperson said.
Tang’s presentation included a color-coded map from South African non-governmental organization Civicus, ranking the world by openness on civil rights.
Most of Asia was shown, with Taiwan colored green, making it the only regional entity portrayed as “open,” while all the others, including several US allies and partners, were labeled as being “closed,” “repressed,” “obstructed” or “narrowed.”
China, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam were colored red and labeled “closed.”
When the moderator returned to Tang a few minutes later, there was no video of her, just audio, and a screenshot captioned: “Minister Audrey Tang Taiwan.”
An onscreen disclaimer later read: “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.”
The map generated an instant e-mail flurry among US officials and the US National Security Council (NSC) angrily contacted the state department, concerned it appeared to show Taiwan as a distinct country, one source said.
Washington complained to Taiwan’s government, which was angry that Tang’s video had been cut.
The source called the US move an overreaction as the map was not inherently about national boundaries, but the NSC was also angry as the slide had not appeared in “dry-run” versions of the presentation before the summit, raising questions as to whether there was intentional messaging by Tang and Taiwan.
“They choked,” the source said of the White House reaction.
A second source directly involved in the summit said the video booth operator acted on White House instructions.
“It was clearly policy concerns,” the source said. “This was completely an internal overreaction.”
The sources said they saw the move during a panel on “countering digital authoritarianism” as at odds with the summit’s mission of bolstering democracy in the face of challenges from China and others.
They also said it could signal that the administration’s support for Taiwan was not as “rock solid” as it has repeatedly stated.
Reuters’ account of the incident was “inaccurate,” an NSC spokesman said.
“At no time did the White House direct that Minister Tang’s video feed be cut,” the spokesman wrote in an e-mail, also blaming it on confusion over screen-sharing, and adding that the full video could be viewed on the summit Web page.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that the US has blamed the incident on a “technical issue.”
Tang’s presentation had been provided in advance and was not shown at the last minute, the ministry said later.
“Taiwan and the United States have fully communicated on this technical issue, and the two sides have a solid mutual trust and a solid and friendly relationship,” it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
RSS