Voice of America
Date: January 13, 2021
By: VOA News

The abrupt cancelation of all State Department travel this week has upended two high-profile trips — a precedent-breaking visit to Taiwan by Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and a final visit to Europe by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
 
Ambassador Craft was due to arrive in Taiwan Wednesday on a three-day visit that included meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen and other senior officials. Chinese officials had demanded the cancelation of the trip, which would have ended Washington’s self-imposed ban on such high-level contacts with the self-governing island which is claimed by Beijing.
 
Pompeo, meanwhile, had been scheduled to travel to Luxembourg and Brussels, where he planned meet with EU leaders.
 
All that was abruptly halted Tuesday when State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus announced the department was canceling all official travel this week, citing the transition to the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office next week.
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