The governor of the US territory of Guam caused a minor cross-strait kerfuffle on Wednesday when he referred to his four-day trip to Taiwan as a “state visit.”
Talking prior to his meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Felix Camacho, governor of the tiny Pacific island, said: “He understands the importance of addressing issues of mutual concern in venues such as this state visit,” Web site pacificnewscenter.com reported.
Camacho’s remarks bought an immediate rebuke from China, with the Chinese Consulate General’s Office in Los Angeles on Wednesday saying it was “highly concerned” about Camacho’s visit.
PHOTO: CNA
“The official visit and referring to Taiwan as ‘Republic of China’ by Governor Camacho does not comply with the One China Policy consistently pursued by the American government. We hope the governor and his office will correct the mistake and avoid misleading the public,” a statement issued by the office read.
The US Department of State also issued a clarification on the issue at its daily press briefing on Wednesday.
“US policy has not changed. The United States maintains a ‘one China’ policy based on the three US-PRC [People’s Republic of China] joint communications and the Taiwan Relations Act ... These visits further our economic and other relations with the people of Taiwan, as described in the Taiwan Relations Act, and are consistent with our policy ... the United States does not conduct state visits with Taiwan,” said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly.
Responding to the reaction to his comments, Camacho’s office issued a statement yesterday saying: “Issues regarding the One China Policy should be referred to the US Department of State and are in no way connected to Governor Camacho’s Taiwan visit.”
The statement also accused the Guam newspaper Pacific Daily News of stirring the controversy by contacting the Chinese consulate for comment.
Camacho, his wife, mother and grandson are among a 15-member delegation that will visit legislators, Taipower and the International Cooperation and Development Fund.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching