Paraguay kicks out a visiting Chinese envoy for urging its lawmakers to turn their backs on Taiwan

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay has accused a Chinese diplomat of interfering in its domestic affairs and given him 24 hours to leave the country, escalating tensions over the South American nation’s long friendship with Taiwan. Paraguay’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a brief statement on Thursday that it had revoked the visa of Xu Wei, a senior Chinese envoy to Latin America who was in Paraguay for an annual UNESCO meeting. He was declared persona non grata “over interference in internal affairs.” Wei skipped the UNESCO session on Wednesday and instead turned up at Congress in the capital of Asunción where he called on Paraguay to ditch Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its territory.