NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE W hen the State Department announced over the weekend that it would lift all previous guidelines governing the interactions of U.S. officials with their Taiwanese counterparts, the outraged reaction was swift.

Critics alleged that the move would constrain the incoming Biden administration and anger China, and argued that, as CNN’s Bianna Golodryga put it, “a major break in foreign policy in the last days of an administration is not exactly an orderly transition of power.” The backlash echoed the rebukes drawn by last week’s announcement that U.N. ambassador Kelly Craft would be visiting Taiwan this week, which Chinese Communist Party-owned news outlets, …