TAIPEI (TAIWAN) – Taiwan premier Su Tseng-chang said on Friday that the cabinet-level head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew Wheeler, is slated to visit the self-governing island. It will be the third high profile visit by a senior US official since August, raising the hackles of China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.
China was furious when US Health Secretary Alx Azar visited Taiwan in August followed by US Undersecretary of State Keith Krach and it sent its fighter jets near the island during each visit to provoke Taipei.
China is alarmed over the ramped up support of the Donald Trump administration for Taiwan and new arms sales.
Tseng-chang told media persons that ties with the US had long been increasing. “At the invitation of Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency will come to Taiwan, to have bilateral discussions on international cooperation on environmental protection issues,” the premier said.
The trip will “be further beneficial to the relationship between the two countries”, Su added.
According to the democratically governed island’s foreign ministry, Wu had invited Wheeler last year.
According to a Beijing foreign ministry spokesman, China strongly opposes any official visits between the US and Taiwan and urged Washington to recognise the sensitivity of the Taiwan imbroglio.
“China will make a legitimate and necessary response in accordance with how the situation develops,” Zhao Lijian said.
According to a New York Times report, Wheeler is scheduled to visit Taiwan in the first week of December.
The newspaper report quoted James Hewitt, a spokesman for Wheeler, as saying the agency was still involved with the logistics part of the visit, adding that the official was invited by Taipei “to collaborate on issues including the Save our Seas initiative and marine litter, air quality, and children’s health”.
Gina McCarthy, then EPA chief of former President Barack Obama, had visited Taiwan in 2014.
Trump, a Republican, is hugely popular in the island. On the other hand, the government has taken steps to allay fears that the next administration of President-elect Joe Biden, who is a Democrat, might not be quite supportive.