Taiwan’s president to visit Tuvalu, Palau and Marshall Islands
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Reuters reported last week that Mr Lai was planning to stop over in Hawaii and possibly Guam on the visit.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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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 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 anger Beijing.
On two occasions in the past two years, China staged military drills around Taiwan after presidential or vice-presidential stopovers in the US.
On those stopovers, Taiwanese presidents often meet friendly politicians and give speeches. Reuters reported last week that Mr 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, Taiwan Deputy 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 Mr Tien.
China will do all it can to stymie the trip – Mr 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 Mr Lai departed.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian did not directly address the prospect of Mr Lai transiting the US, but said the “one-China principle” was the general consensus of the international community.
Of the 12 countries which maintain formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, three are in the Pacific – Palau, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu – and Mr Lai will go to all of them starting from Nov 30, his office said.
His official schedule has him then arriving in the Marshall Islands only in the following week, on Dec 3, without saying where he would be in the intervening period.
The Pacific island nations visits are also important as China is competing for influence with the US there and has been gradually whittling away at the number of countries in the region which retain ties with Taiwan.
In January, tiny Nauru switched relations back to Beijing.
Palau, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu all put out statements on Nov 22 saying they welcomed Mr Lai’s visit.
“As a long-term partner and good friend of the Marshall Islands, we look forward to warmly receiving President Lai,” the office of President Hilda Heine said on its Facebook page.
China has ramped up its military activities around Taiwan war games in May
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says it has a right to engage with other countries and for its leaders to make foreign trips.
In August 2023, China held a day of military drills around Taiwan after then Vice-President Lai returned from the US, where he officially made only stopovers but gave speeches on his way to and from Paraguay.
In April 2023, China also held war games around Taiwan in anger at a US trip by then President Tsai Ing-wen, who met then US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles. In 2017 and 2019, Ms Tsai stopped in Hawaii during her visits to Pacific allies. REUTERS
