Pompeo Cancels Europe Visit One Day After Announcement (Comprehensive Report 2)

Europe Seems to Have Refused Visit
State Department Explains Due to Biden Administration Transition
US Ambassador to UN Also Fails to Visit Taiwan

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has canceled his previously announced visits to Belgium and Luxembourg. Reports have emerged that European parties refused his visit citing the Capitol riot incident as the reason.

On the 12th (local time), the U.S. State Department announced the cancellation of all overseas trips by State Department staff scheduled for this week. Pompeo's itinerary was included in the cancellations.

According to the Associated Press, this decision was made less than 24 hours after Pompeo announced his visit to Brussels, Belgium. Pompeo was scheduled to visit Belgium and Luxembourg starting on the 13th. He was also planning to meet with Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Pompeo's visit was to be his last overseas trip before the end of the Donald Trump administration. The State Department stated that the cancellation of overseas visits was to support the transition to the Joe Biden administration, but a major foreign news outlet reported that European parties refused Pompeo's visit.

Although Pompeo's visit was originally scheduled, European parties reportedly declined meetings with the Trump administration following the Capitol riot incident.

Pompeo was also scheduled to visit South Korea last October but canceled due to President Trump's COVID-19 infection.

Kelly Craft, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, also canceled her planned visit to Taiwan. Ambassador Craft was scheduled to visit Taiwan from the 13th to the 15th. This means the Trump administration lost its last opportunity to provoke China before the end of its term.

On the 9th, Pompeo announced that the State Department would lift restrictions on contacts with Taiwanese counterparts imposed on diplomats, military personnel, and other officials. China strongly opposed this, stating it violated the One-China principle.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.