The Trump administration’s policy toward Taiwan is ending much as it started — by attempting to fundamentally alter the status quo.

The United States on Friday lifted decades-old restrictions on contacts between U.S. officials and their Taiwanese counterparts, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, just days before President-elect Joe Biden is due to take office.

The move in the waning days of Donald Trump's presidency was the latest in a series of shifts by the White House that have more tightly bound Washington’s ties with Taipei amid an increasingly acrimonious relationship with Beijing.