PHOENIX — Taiwan now has a permanent diplomatic-style foothold in Arizona, and Beijing is not happy about it.
Gov. Katie Hobbs joined Taiwan’s foreign minister, Lin Chia-Lung, on Monday to open the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Phoenix, the Associated Press reported. It is the island’s 14th such office in the United States.
What the office will do
Because the U.S. does not formally recognize Taiwan as a country, the office is not called a consulate, but it functions much like one. KJZZ reported that it will help broker trade and investment, give Taiwanese officials a local base for meeting Arizona leaders, and provide consular services such as passports for Taiwanese nationals living here. Taiwanese authorities have said it will focus on technology partnerships, especially semiconductor manufacturing, according to the AP.
That focus is no accident. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has pledged another $100 billion for its north Phoenix campus, bringing its total commitment to $265 billion, which the AP and KJZZ describe as the largest foreign direct investment in U.S. history. Jason Hsu, a former Taiwanese lawmaker now at the Hudson Institute, told the AP that about 500 Taiwanese engineers are working to ramp up production at the plant. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said the city is seeing a “baby boom” in its Taiwanese community, with some hospital labor and delivery units adding Mandarin-language programs.
China pushed back
After the office was announced in July, China’s consulate general in Los Angeles sent Hobbs two letters asking her to oppose it. KJZZ first obtained the letters through a public records request. In the July 3 letter, the consulate urged the governor to “stop any political gimmicks” that could harm cooperation between China and Arizona, the AP reported; an Aug. 21 letter repeated that position, and KJZZ said one letter accused the state of lending credence to Taiwanese independence.
Hobbs did not budge. “Every Arizona elected official should show the courage necessary to support the partnership between Arizona and Taiwan,” she said at Monday’s opening, according to the AP. Her office previously told KJZZ the state will keep pursuing economic ties with Taiwan within the broader U.S. foreign-policy framework.
China’s embassy in Washington responded Monday that it “firmly opposes official interactions of any form” between Taiwan and U.S. federal or state governments, spokesperson Liu Chang said in a statement quoted by the AP.
Decades in the making
The relationship is not new. Taipei became one of Phoenix’s first sister cities in 1979, KJZZ noted. Lily McElwee, president of the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations, told the station the letters were exactly what she would expect from Beijing, which works to shrink Taiwan’s international presence. An Arizona Commerce Authority delegation of about 100 state and city leaders recently traveled to Taiwan, KJZZ reported, a sign that business ties show no sign of cooling.
Photo: Aquintero82 via Wikimedia Commons (CC0). File photo of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco, 2025; not the new Phoenix office.