Former United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday called for the US to formally give diplomatic recognition to Taiwan.

"It's my view the US government should immediately and take necessary and long-overdue steps to do the right and obvious thing, that is to offer the Republic of China (Taiwan) America's diplomatic recognition as a free and sovereign country," he said during a nonofficial visit to the island.

"It's the reality. It's the fact ... there's no need for Taiwan to declare independence because it's already an independent nation," he told a forum held by Taipei-based think tank, the Prospect Foundation. 

Beijing, which considers self-ruled Taiwan a part of China, slammed the comments. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, "Pompeo is a former politician whose credibility has long gone bankrupt. Such a person's babbling nonsense will have no success."

Pompeo also spoke about the war in Ukraine and praised Taiwan for being on the frontlines of the battle between "freedom and tyranny."

US-Taiwan relations

The US ended formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 when it established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. Nevertheless, it remains Taiwan's strongest unofficial ally.

The island, officially known as the Republic of China (Taiwan), is claimed by China as its territory. The former government of China had fled to Taiwan after losing a civil war with the Communist Party in 1949. 

Mike Pompeo served as Secretary of State and director of the CIA under former US President Donald Trump. During his tenure, he stepped up official exchanges with Taiwan, but did not publicly advocate for its formal recognition.

After President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, Beijing imposed sanctions on Pompeo and 27 other Trump-era officials. 

Before Trump's era, the US had already imposed sanctions on China over human rights violations in Hong Kong and Taiwan. But tensions between the two countries' increased during Trump's presidency.

tg/nm (AFP, AP)