When President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met at the APEC summit this November, one of the top agenda items was Taiwan, an island China claims as its own. Xi called Taiwan the "most important" and "most sensitive" issue driving U.S.-China tensions.

The top U.S. representative in Taiwan, Sandra Oudkirk, is trying to navigate that tricky terrain.

Who is she? Oudkirk became the director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) — the U.S. office in Taipei — in July 2021.

• The AIT functions much like an American embassy – but it is decidedly not one.
• That's because the U.S. does not formally recognize Taiwan as a country, choosing since 1979 to instead recognize Beijing.
• The U.S. still maintains close trade and political exchanges with Taiwan however, and Taiwan has become an important high-tech economy.

What is the latest?

• Taiwan is gearing up for presidential elections in Jan. 2024. Taiwanese civil society groups warn Chinese state actors may plant false narratives on Taiwan's social media platforms and news outlets in the run up to stoke fear among Taiwanese voters and distrust for the U.S.
• Taiwan is expressing low levels of confidence in the U.S. as a stable partner for Taiwan. A recent poll from the prominent Taipei-based research institute Academia Sinica found 34% of people agreed that the U.S. was a trustworthy country, a drop of more than 11 percentage points since 2021.

Listen to the State of the World episode on how China is trying to gradually...

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