Unofficial US embassy in Taiwan names a new director

The career foreign service officer and diplomat has held a previous post at AIT, which is funded by the US State Department and meant to manage Washington’s unofficial relationship with the island. He served as AIT’s deputy director in Taipei for about three years before his most recent post in Tokyo.

Greene was also a diplomat in China, serving as consul general in Chengdu for nearly three years, a stint that ended in 2017.

That move prompted an outcry from Beijing, which accused the three of causing “confrontation in the region”.

In a social media post earlier this year, Greene said he was pleased to host Deputy US Secretary of State Kurt Campbell in Tokyo for meetings that laid the groundwork for the trilateral meetings in Washington.

He called the discussions in Washington “yet another milestone in our joint efforts to realise a free and open Indo-Pacific and a global rules-based order”.

Beijing vows to reunify Taiwan with the mainland, by force if necessary. Like most other Western countries, the US does not recognise Taiwan as an independent country, although Washington is committed by its Taiwan Relations Act to support the self-ruled island’s defence capability.

The AIT, whose main office is in Taipei, also has offices in Taiwan’s port city of Kaohsiung and Washington.