Taiwan welcomes American diplomats again, China is furious

Taiwan again angered China. Because of this, Taiwan will again welcome the arrival of American diplomats on Friday. According to the Chinese government, this goes against their efforts to claim Taiwan as its own.

Quoted from the Reuters news agency, the diplomat who will be present is named Andrew Wheeler. He is the head of the American Environmental Protection Agency. Wheeler is the third American diplomat to visit Taiwan in the past four months.

"At the invitation of Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, we welcome the Head of the American Environmental Protection Agency Andrew Wheeler on Friday. We will discuss bilateral cooperation on environmental issues," said Taiwan Prime Minister Su Tseng, Friday, 20 November 2020.

Prior to Wheeler, those who first visited Taiwan were Health Minister Alex Azar and US State Department official Keith Krach. Azar came to Taiwan in August while Krach in September.

When it was Krach's turn to visit, his presence was greeted by Chinese military operations around Taiwan. In fact, China sent dozens of military aircraft to the Taiwanese aviation area. In response to this, Taiwan fielded a fleet of fighter jets to repel the Chinese military.

Su Tseng continued that Wheeler's presence was not something sudden. Wheeler has been invited since last year and was only able to fulfill the invitation this year. Regarding what issues will be discussed, Su Tseng promised that they would be revealed when the time was right.

In Beijing, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns what Taiwan and America are doing. According to China, their meeting indicated that the two countries were insensitive to the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty. Therefore, China urged Taiwan and America to cancel their meeting.

"China will respond legally and necessary to the situation that develops in the future," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.

So far, China has seen the good relations between America and Taiwan as an obstacle to their mission. This is because America's support strengthens the legitimacy of Taiwan as an independent country in the international community. China doesn't want that to happen because it could thwart claims efforts.

Meanwhile, in America, Wheeler said that they were still arranging all logistical matters from the visit to Taiwan. The visit to Taiwan, they claimed, was related to discussing issues of marine pollution, air pollution, and children's health.