American Institute in Taiwan

From Free net encyclopedia

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) serves as the de facto embassy of the United States in Taiwan. The AIT exists because the United States, in maintaining diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and acknowledging its view of the One-China policy, may not officially recognize the Republic of China and hence cannot open an actual embassy there.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) is similarly represented in the U.S. by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.

AIT was created in 1979 by the Taiwan Relations Act after the U.S. severed ties with Taiwan in 1978. Although it is a nominally private organization, it is authorized to perform functions normally carried on by an embassy, including issuing visas and passports. The staff consists of nominally private citizens, but these are officials of the United States Department of State who are technically on leave, although they continue to collect seniority. Funding for AIT comes exclusively from the United States government.

The headquarters of AIT is in Washington, D.C., although it also has an office in Taipei and a branch in Kaohsiung. The Director of the Taipei office serves the functions normally associated with an ambassador. The Director of the Taipei office is Stephen Young (from March 18, 2006), the Managing Director of the Washington, D.C. office is Barbara Schrage, and the Chairman of AIT is Raymond Burghardt.

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