Biden Officials Deny Cutting Video Feed at Democracy Conference Over Map Implying Taiwan’s Independence

CIVICUS Graphic

Biden administration officials denied a report that they cut the video feed at President Joe Biden’s conference on democracy over a Taiwanese official’s map at a conference on democracy last week suggesting the country was independent of China.

The incident transpired at Biden’s Summit for Democracy last week, where Taiwanese Digital Minister Audrey Tang showed a colored-coded map created by South African group CIVICUS ranking countries according to their civil rights. The map showed Taiwan as green while showing China, Laos, Vietnam, and North Korea as red. In addition to giving China the worst rating, the map implied Taiwan was an independent nation, a notion that China disputes.

But according to sources who spoke with Reuters on the condition of anonymity, the feed was cut by White House officials.

“The White House was concerned that differentiating Taiwan and China on a map in a U.S.-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 as to whether Taiwan is part of China,” Reuters reported the anonymous source as saying.

The video feed was mysteriously cut during Tang’s presentation “at the behest of the White House,” the sources added. The feed resumed several minutes later to feature audio of Tang, but not video.

In a statement, however,  the State Department denied that the feed was cut intentionally, saying, “We valued Minister Tang’s participation, which showcased Taiwan’s world-class expertise on issues of transparent governance, human rights, and countering disinformation.”

Reuters added that a National Security Council spokesman said the publication’s “account of the incident was inaccurate,” saying, “At no time did the White House direct that Minister Tang’s video feed be cut.” The officials attributed the incident to “confusion” over screen-sharing.

State Department guidelines note the U.S. under President Jimmy Carter “acknowledged the Chinese position that there is only one China and that Taiwan is part of China,” while adding with respect to cartographic issues, “On most U.S. government maps that show sovereignty tints, Taiwan is to be shown with the same color as China.”