TAIPEI: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will visit Taipei’s three remaining diplomatic allies in the Pacific on a trip starting at the end of the month, his office said on Friday (Nov 22), but the government declined to give details on US transit stops.
Taiwanese presidents usually use visits to allied countries to make what are officially stop-overs in the United States, Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier, which frequently angers Beijing.
On two occasions in the past two years China staged military drills around Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory, after presidential or vice-presidential stopovers in the United States.
On those stopovers, Taiwanese presidents often meet with friendly politicians and give speeches. Reuters reported last week that Lai was planning to stop off in Hawaii and maybe the US territory of Guam while he was in the Pacific.
Asked repeatedly by reporters at a news conference for details on the stopovers, Deputy Taiwan Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang said they were in the planning stages and would be announced at an “appropriate time”.
“But there is a principle, which is that they are handled with safety, dignity, convenience and comfort” in mind, said Tien.
China will do all it can to stymie the trip – Lai’s first abroad since being inaugurated in May – but Taiwan won’t be deterred, he added.
“We won’t dance to their tune. We will do what we have to do and what we plan.”
Two sources familiar with the situation said details of the US part of the trip would likely only come a day or so before Lai departed.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian did not directly address the prospect of Lai transitting the United States, but said the “one-China principle” was the general consensus of the international community.
