American Institute in Taiwan

The American Institute in Taiwan
Company type	Domestic Non Profit Corporation
Founded	Washington DC (January 16, 1979)
Founder	Harvey J. Feldman (US Government Official);
Key people	Raymond Burghardt (Chairman);
Number of employees	[To Follow](2009)
Website	[2]

The American Institute in Taiwan^[2] (AIT) is a non-profit, private corporation established under the auspices of the US government to serve its interests in Taiwan. The establishment of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1979 required acknowledgment of the One-China policy and termination of diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC). However, the AIT serves to assist and protect US interests in Taiwan and other areas in the ROC in a non-official manner.

AIT is a non-profit private corporation incorporated in the District of Columbia on 16 January 1979^[3] after US established full diplomatic relations with the PRC on January 1, 1979. Although AIT is a formally private institution, it is authorized by Section 6 of the Taiwan Relations Act to perform functions such as issuing visas for tourists and passports for US citizens.^[4] With the authorization of Taiwan Relations Act, the Department of State, through a non-official and private contract with AIT, provides AIT guidance and some funding in its operations. In practice the staff of the AIT consists largely of employees of the Department of State who are on leave from the Department. However, while on leave, State Department employees continue to accrue seniority.

AIT has a small headquarters office in Arlington County, Virginia. AIT's largest office is located in Taipei, Taiwan. AIT also has a small branch office in Taiwan's southern port city of Kaohsiung. These three offices are referred to as AIT/Washington (AIT/W), AIT/Taipei (AIT/T) and AIT/Kaohsiung (AIT/K), respectively.^[5]. The Director of AIT/T is William A. Stanton (from September 2009), the Managing Director of AIT/W is Barbara Schrage, and the Chairman of AIT is Raymond Burghardt. AIT has a virtual branch office in Taichung.

For the purposes of remuneration and benefits, directors of AIT are of the same rank as ambassador and, in Taiwan, are accorded diplomatic privileges in their capacity as directors.

Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office similarly represents Taiwan in the US.

From 1953 to 1979, the United States Ambassador to China was based in Taipei. (List of U.S. Ambassador to China from 1953 to 1979)