Taiwan's vice president-elect and former de facto ambassador to Washington, Hsiao Bi-khim, is in the United States this week for a private visit, a senior Taiwanese official and a U.S. spokesperson said on Tuesday, a trip China said it "firmly opposes." Taiwan's vice president-elect and former de facto ambassador to Washington, Hsiao Bi-khim, is in the United States this week for a private visit, a senior Taiwanese official and a U.S. spokesperson said on Tuesday, a trip China said it "firmly opposes." China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite Taiwanese objections, and has been angered by past visits to the United States by Taiwan's president and vice president. Chinese Embassy Spokesperson Liu Pengyu said China "firmly opposes" any form of official interaction between the U.S. and "the Taiwan region," and referred to Hsiao Bi-khim as "a diehard 'Taiwan independence' separatist." "We firmly oppose any visit by Hsiao Bi-khim to the U.S. in any name or under whatever pretext," Liu said, adding that the United States should "not arrange any form of contact between the U.S. government officials and Hsiao Bi-khim."

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Persons: Hsiao, Liu Pengyu, Hsiao Bi, Liu Organizations: U.S Locations: Washington, United States, U.S, China, Taiwan