The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed regret over the cancelation of a planned visit to Taiwan next month by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler, but added that cooperation on environmental initiatives would continue.
“Due to pressing domestic priorities at home, Administrator Wheeler’s visit to Taiwan has been postponed,” EPA spokesman James Hewitt said on Tuesday by e-mail.
Wheeler’s trip was originally planned following several high-level visits by US officials to Taiwan in the past few months, as well as stepped-up arms sales.
Photo: Reuters
Taiwan regretted the cancelation, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a text message yesterday, adding that Taipei would continue to promote future Cabinet-level visits and collaboration on environmental issues with the incoming administration of US president-elect Joe Biden.
In Washington, Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) on Tuesday also expressed regret over the cancelation of the trip, but added that Taiwan and the US would continue their cooperation on environmental initiatives.
Wheeler and his delegation had planned to visit Taiwan for three days to discuss a wide range of topics, such as ocean trash, air quality and child health, media reports said.
The visit had drawn scrutiny in the US for its potentially high price tag, with a charter flight planned to transport Wheeler and other EPA staff to Taiwan because of COVID-19 concerns.
A separate trip by Wheeler to Latin American countries, including possibly Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, is still expected just ahead of Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Hewitt said the EPA would be asking the agency’s inspector general to probe the disclosure of details surrounding Wheeler’s Taiwan travel plans, after a New York Times report on the cost concerns.
“It is disturbing that a government official would leak deliberative schedules to the New York Times that could jeopardize both international diplomacy and personal security,” Hewitt said.
Two high-level US officials have visited Taiwan in recent months.
In August, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar became the highest-ranking US official to travel to Taiwan since the US broke off ties with Taipei in 1979.
US Undersecretary of State Keith Krach visited Taiwan a month later.
Both visits spurred angry reactions from Beijing, with Taiwan a focal point for spiraling tensions between the US and China.
There was speculation that Wheeler canceled his trip due to an unannounced visit by US Rear Admiral Michael Studeman, director of intelligence of the US Indo-Pacific Command, to Taipei on Sunday.
However, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) disputed the speculation on the sidelines of a legislative meeting, saying the two matters were unrelated.
Studeman arrived at Taipei International Airport on a chartered plane for a three-day visit.
The plane departed from the same airport at about 7:10pm on Tuesday, according to photographs taken by local media.
The ministry did not confirm or comment on Studeman’s visit.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS