The Vice President of Taiwan, William Lai, traveled to the United States today before attending the inauguration of the new president in Paraguay, in a move that irritated the Chinese authorities.
“Excited to meet our American friends on the layover,” Lai, a candidate for next year’s Taiwan presidential election, tweeted on the X social network, formerly known as Twitter.
In response, Laura Rosenberger, president of the American Institute in Taiwan, which acts as Taiwan’s representative in the United States, said officials are “looking forward to welcoming” Lai.
Lai plans to make a stopover in New York on his trip to Paraguay, to participate in the inauguration of the new Paraguayan president, Santiago Peña, and a stop in San Francisco on his return.
Before boarding his flight, he anticipated that he planned to meet “with leaders of various countries in the world and also meet with delegations from like-minded countries” during his trip to Paraguay, the only country in South America that diplomatically recognizes Taiwan against China.
“I will make the international community aware of our numerous efforts to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” Lai said, the AFP news agency reported.
Last week, China’s Foreign Ministry urged the United States to “respect the one-China principle” and end official exchanges with Taiwan.
Before the trip, Taiwan sought to downplay the displacement, with Foreign Minister spokesman Jeff Liu saying “there is nothing special” about a vice president being in transit in the United States, something that has happened 11 times already.
The situation between China and Taiwan worsened in August last year as a result of the visit to the island of the then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, which the Asian giant considered a provocation and to which it responded with the announcement of four days of military exercises.
The White House has distanced itself from Pelosi’s controversial trip to the island that China claims as its own, arguing that the leader makes her own decisions.
The United States diplomatically recognizes China over Taiwan, but maintains de facto relations with Taipei and supports the island’s right to decide its future.
China considers Taiwan – where Chinese nationalists fled after their defeat in a civil war by communists in 1949 – a province that must be reunified.
Links between Taiwan, home to 23 million people, and mainland China were only re-established at the business and informal level in the late 1980s.
Tensions between the island and the mainland have grown to their highest level in recent years, not only through diplomatic exchanges, but also military exercises in the area.
Source: Ambito
