Taiwan’s President Lai kicks off Marshall Islands visit as China fumes

MARSHALL ISLANDS – Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te arrived in the Marshall Islands on Dec 3, after visiting the US on the first stop of a Pacific tour that has angered Chinese leaders.

The Marshall Islands is one of 12 remaining nations that recognise Taiwan’s claim to statehood, after others jumped ship to China following promises of aid and investment.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory and

opposes any foreign interactions or visits

by the island’s leaders, has been stepping up military pressure against Taiwan, including two rounds of war games in 2024.

Arriving in the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro, Mr Lai referred to Taiwan’s indigenous inhabitants as sharing a culture with the Pacific Islands’ first settlers.

“Taiwan and the Marshall Islands share a traditional Austronesia culture, as well as the values of freedom and democracy,” he said in live-streamed remarks as he met President Hilda Heine.

“We are like family. We are also close partners who support each other,” he added.

Austronesian tribes farmed on Taiwan thousands of years before Han settlers from mainland China arrived in the 17th century.

Ms Heine said the Marshall Islands, which has a defence and funding compact with the US and receives significant aid for climate change projects and infrastructure from Taiwan, would deepen ties.

“Your government and people are very close and dear to our hearts,” she said.

“Your state visit also signifies a bilateral relationship that is mature, one that has withstood the test of time and one that I am confident will continue to grow,” she added.

In a speech to Parliament, Mr Lai announced Taiwan would provide a “preferential loan” for state-owned Air Marshall Islands to purchase new aircraft.

Taiwan, which has a long history of providing development finance in the Pacific, will also help build a pig slaughterhouse in 2025 to improve “food security” in the Marshall Islands, Mr Lai said.

Mr Lai thanked Ms Heine for “personally speaking up for Taiwan at this year’s Pacific Islands Forum, United Nations General Assembly and COP29”.

Ruffling feathers in Beijing

Mr Lai’s first overseas trip since taking office in May began with a two-day visit to the US, where he discussed “China’s military threats” towards Taiwan during

a call with former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

and met US government officials and members of Congress, drawing a fresh barrage of criticism from Beijing.

China rejects any international recognition of Taiwan and its claim to be a sovereign state. It especially bristles at official contact between the island and Washington, Taiwan’s most important security backer.

China on Dec 3 vowed to defend its “national sovereignty” and “territorial integrity” as Mr Lai visited the Marshall Islands.

“The Taiwan issue is the core of China’s core interests,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, when asked whether Beijing could launch another round of war games around the self-ruled island in response to the Pacific tour.

After the Marshall Islands, Mr Lai will visit Taiwan’s other remaining Pacific island allies Tuvalu and Palau, as well as stop for one night in the US territory of Guam.

China has fumed over recent US arms sales to Taiwan, and Mr Lai’s stop in the US island state of Hawaii, where he was welcomed with red carpets and garlands of flowers.

Mrs Pelosi’s longstanding support for Taiwan has infuriated China, which responded to

her visit to Taipei in 2022

with massive military drills around the island.

Mr Lai and Mrs Pelosi discussed “China’s military threats toward Taiwan”, presidential spokeswoman Karen Kuo told reporters in Hawaii, describing the 20-minute call between the “long-time friends” as “warm and amicable”.

In response to Mr Lai’s conversation with Mrs Pelosi, China on Dec 2 called on the US to “stop meddling with Taiwan” and cease “supporting and indulging Taiwan independence separatist forces”.

“The Taiwan issue is the core of China’s core interests and the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing.

Taiwan faces the constant threat of a military attack by China, which regularly deploys fighter jets and warships around the island to press its claims, and Beijing has not ruled out using force to bring the island under its control.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island.

In his first public speech of the trip on US soil, Mr Lai said on Nov 30 there was a need to “fight together to prevent war”, warning there were “no winners” from conflict.

On the eve of Mr Lai’s week-long Pacific tour, the US approved a proposed sale to Taiwan of spare parts for F-16s and radar systems, as well as communications equipment, in deals valued at US$385 million (S$519 million) in total. AFP, REUTERS