Pompeo makes second visit to Taiwan this year
Beijing, Sep 27 (EFE).- Former United States secretary of state Mike Pompeo was in Taipei on Tuesday to give a keynote speech after arriving on the island the previous night, state news agency CNA reported.
Pompeo will address the Global Taiwan Business Forum in Kaohsiung, hosted by the Liberty Times newspaper.
The forum brings together over 300 Taiwanese businessmen and major companies from around the world.
This is Pompeo’s second trip to the self-governing island this year and comes less than two months after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s fleeting visit to Taipei that angered China and further strained relations between Washington and Beijing.
Pompeo will speak on the topic: “Seeing Taiwan’s post-Covid-19 pandemic business opportunities from the perspective of international economic and trade trends,” the newspaper said.
Also on his agenda is a visit on Wednesday to the World Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce, where he will deliver the opening address at the annual meeting, as well as visits to several tech companies, according to Liberty Times.
Pompeo, who served as the secretary of state in the previous US administration led by Donald Trump, also traveled to Taiwan in early March.
During that visit, he met President Tsai Ing-wen and declared that the US should “take necessary and long-overdue steps to do the right and obvious thing, that is to offer the Republic of China (Taiwan’s official name) America’s diplomatic recognition as a free and sovereign country.”
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi slammed the visit and described Pompeo as “a former politician with bankrupt credibility, and his nonsense is doomed to failure.”
Pompeo’s latest visit comes amid heightened tensions between China and the US over Pelosi’s trip, which Beijing called a “farce” and a “deplorable betrayal.”
China retaliated to Pelosi’s visit by imposing sanctions on her, suspending cooperation with the US in several important areas and deploying war ships and aircraft across the Taiwan Strait.
China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, which it considers a rebel province with which it has not ruled out the use of force to achieve “reunification.” EFE
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