Humeyra Pouk, Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A live feed from a Taiwanese Minister was cut at the U.S. President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy last Week after a slide in her presentation had shown Taiwan with a different colour to China. China claims Taiwan as its own.

According to sources, Reuters received information from people familiar with the matter that the slideshow by Audrey Tang (Taiwanese Digital Ministry) on Friday caused concern among U.S. officials when the map was shown in her video feed for around a minute.

Sources who were not authorized to speak on the subject due to its sensitive nature said Tang’s video feed was cut during panel discussions and then replaced with an audio version – at White House request.

According to sources, the White House was worried that a U.S.-hosted conference would show Taiwan as different from China. Taiwan was invited to this event as a gesture of support to Beijing. This could have been seen to be at odds with Washington’s “one-China” policy which does not take a position on whether Taiwan is part or not of China.

While the White House didn’t comment directly, it said that screen-sharing caused “confusion”, and Tang’s live video was removed. The State Department called this “an honest error.”

Spokesperson for Taiwan stated that “We appreciated Minister Tang’s participation,” which highlighted Taiwan’s top-class expertise in issues of transparency, human rights and countering misinformation.

Tang’s presentation featured a CIVICUS map in color, which ranks the world based on openness to civil rights.

The majority of Asia was displayed, with Taiwan being colored green. Taiwan is the only region that was portrayed as open, while the rest, which included many U.S. allies, partners and allies, were labeled “closed,” (repressed), “obstructed” or even “narrowed.”

China, Vietnam, Laos and North Korea were all colored red and designated “closed”

A screenshot with the caption “Minister Audrey Tang Taiwan” was taken by the moderator when Tang returned to Tang’s room a few moments later. Later, an on-screen disclaimer stated that the opinions of individuals who are part of this panel were their own and did not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States.

According to Reuters, one source said that the map caused an immediate email flurry between U.S. officials. The White House National Security Council contacted the State Department angry because it showed Taiwan as a separate country.

Washington made a complaint to Taiwan’s government about Tang’s video being cut.

Sources called the U.S. reaction an exaggerated one because the map did not directly concern national borders. However, the NSC was angry that the slide was missing in the “dry-run” version of the presentation prior to the summit. This raises questions about whether Tang or Taiwan were trying to communicate a message.

Source: White House response to White House incident, “They choked.”

Another source who was directly involved with the summit stated that the White House directed the video booth operator to follow instructions. Source: This was not an external reaction.

Sources said that the decision was made during the panel “countering digital autoritarianism”, which is at odds with summit’s goal of strengthening democracy face to China. It could also signal that Taiwan’s administration is not as solid as they have repeatedly claimed.

Tang answered Reuters’s question about whether the U.S. government had removed the video from the slide.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry blamed “technical issues”

This issue is very sensitive for U.S. relations with Taiwan. Some Biden administration critics as well as foreign policy experts call for greater support of the island. They also want to end a policy of strategic ambiguity about whether the United States will defend the country militarily.

Taiwan experts stated that the U.S. does not consider the color-coding of maps to be a violation unofficial guidelines. This prohibits the use overt symbols such as Taiwan’s flag.

Douglas Paal (an unofficial U.S. Ambassador to Taiwan) stated that “it was not to differentiate sovereignty but the degree democratic expression.”

Bonnie Glaser of the German Marshall Fund of the United States questioned whether there were any references in U.S. guidelines for using different colors to denote Taiwan and China on a map. However, this would fit with the idea of not approving a position about Taiwan being part of China.

“It seems that Taiwan decided at the start that Taiwan should/could be included in Summit for Democracy. However, this decision must have been made in accordance to U.S. policies.” policy.”