TAIPEI – Taiwanese Vice-President William Lai left on Saturday for a sensitive trip to the United States, which China has condemned and Taiwanese officials fear could prompt more Chinese military activity around the island.
Mr Lai, who is the front runner in the race to become Taiwan’s president in the January 2024 polls, is officially making only transit stops in the US on his way to and from Paraguay for the swearing-in of its new president, Mr Santiago Pena.
Taipei and Washington have said such stopovers are routine and no cause for China to take “provocative” actions, but Beijing has reacted with anger at what it sees as a further sign of US support for Taiwan, which it claims as sovereign Chinese territory.
China is likely to launch military drills next week near Taiwan, using Mr Lai’s US stopovers as a pretext to intimidate voters ahead of the 2024 election and make them “fear war”, Taiwanese officials said.
Beijing particularly dislikes Mr Lai, who has in the past described himself as a “practical worker for Taiwan independence”. He has, however, repeatedly said during the election campaign that he does not seek to change the status quo.
Mr Lai, speaking to reporters at Taiwan’s main international airport in Taoyuan, made only fleeting mention of the US part of his trip, simply noting that he was going to New York first.
He said he would use the Paraguay visit not only to deepen ties with that country but also to have “self-confident” exchanges with other countries and meet delegations from like-minded partners. He did not say who they were.
This will “let the international community understand that Taiwan is a country that adheres to democracy, freedom and human rights, and actively participates in international affairs”, added the Taiwanese leader.
It will also let the world know about “our various efforts to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific”, he said.
Ms Laura Rosenberger, chair of the Virginia-based American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a US government-run non-profit that carries out unofficial relations with Taiwan, responded on X – formerly called Twitter – that AIT was looking forward to welcoming Mr Lai “during his transit en route to Paraguay”.
Neither Taiwan nor the US authorities have given exact details about his US schedule, and both are aiming to keep that part low-key, according to officials briefed on the trip.
He is set to return from Paraguay via San Francisco and is due back in Taiwan on Friday, according to the published official schedule for the trip.
The Paraguay leg of the trip is also important, given China’s increasing efforts to take Taiwan’s remaining allies.
Honduras, once a stalwart Taiwanese partner, switched relations to China in March.
Mr Lai wrote in English on X that he was “excited to meet with US friends in transit” and to be going to Paraguay, one of just 13 countries to maintain formal ties with Taipei.
He went to Honduras in 2022 for the inauguration of its president and had a brief though symbolic chat while there with US Vice-President Kamala Harris. The US has not announced who may be going to Paraguay next week. REUTERS
