WASHINGTON—The U.S. State Department on Friday issued new guidelines that will enable U.S. officials to meet more freely with officials from Taiwan, a move that deepens relations with Taipei amid stepped-up Chinese military activity around the island. “These new guidelines liberalize guidance on contacts with Taiwan, consistent with our unofficial relations,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. The aim, he said, was “to encourage U.S. government engagement with Taiwan that reflects our deepening unofficial relationship.” Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced days before the end of former President Donald Trump’s presidency in January that he was lifting restrictions on contacts between U.S. officials and their Taiwanese counterparts. Price said the new guidelines had followed a congressionally mandated review and would “provide clarity throughout the Executive Branch on effective implementation of our ‘one China’ policy”—a reference to the long-standing U.S. policy under which Washington officially recognizes Beijing …