U.S. envoy to U.N. to visit Taiwan; China says playing with fire
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[January 08, 2021]
By Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI (Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to
the United Nations, Kelly Craft, will visit Taiwan next week for
meetings with senior Taiwanese leaders, Taiwan's government and the U.S.
mission to the U.N. said, prompting China to warn they were playing with
fire.
Beijing, which claims the self-governed island as its own territory, has
been angered by stepped-up support for Taiwan from the outgoing Trump
administration, including trips to Taipei by top U.S. officials, further
straining Sino-U.S. ties.
Chinese fighter jets approached the island in August and September
during the last two visits - by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human
Services Alex Azar and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic
Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach, respectively.
"During her trip, the Ambassador will reinforce the U.S. government's
strong and ongoing support for Taiwan's international space in accord
with the U.S. one-China policy that is guided by the Taiwan Relations
Act, the three U.S.-PRC joint communiques, and the Six Assurances to
Taiwan," the U.S. mission to the United Nations said in a statement on
Thursday.
She will be in Taiwan from Jan. 13 to 15, it added.
While the United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic
ties with Taiwan, it is the island's strongest international backer and
arms supplier, being obliged to help provide Taiwan with the means to
defend itself under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.
China said it was firmly opposed to the visit.
"We wish to remind the United States that whoever plays with fire will
burn himself. The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong
action," China's U.N. mission said.
"China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation,
stop creating new difficulties for China-U.S. relations and the two
countries' cooperation in the United Nations, and stop going further on
the wrong path."
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft speaks during a
Security Council meeting at United Nations Headquarters in the
Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 28,
2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that Craft, whom it called
a "staunch friend", would meet President Tsai Ing-wen and Foreign
Minister Joseph Wu.
The visit is highly symbolic as Taiwan is not a U.N. member, because
of objections by China, which views the island as one of its
provinces and not a country, and that only Beijing has a right to
speak for Taiwan on the international stage.
Taiwan says that right belongs to its democratically elected
government, not China, and has complained of Chinese pressure
preventing it from getting real-time information from the World
Health Organization during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Craft will likely bring up that issue.
The U.S. mission said that while in Taipei she would give a speech
on "Taiwan's impressive contributions to the global community and
the importance of Taiwan's meaningful and expanded participation in
international organisations".
In a September post on Twitter, she called for Taiwan's "full
participation at the UN", following a meeting with Taiwan's de facto
consul general in New York.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Michelle
Nichols in New York and Cate Cadell in Beijing; Editing by Christian
Schmollinger, Lincoln Feast and Gerry Doyle)
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