Taiwan’s president departs for Pacific go to with a two-day cease within the US. China is not completely satisfied | EUROtoday

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Taiwan’s president departed Saturday for his journey to the South Pacific that may embody a two-day transit within the U.S., his first since assuming workplace, although few particulars about his itinerary had been made public.

The deliberate stopovers in Hawaii and the territory of Guam have already drawn fierce criticism from Bejing, which claims Taiwan as its personal territory and objects to official exchanges between it and the U.S., the island’s greatest backer and army supplier.

Lai Ching-te will go on a weeklong journey to go to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau — three diplomatic allies of the self-governed island within the Pacific.

“I want to use the values of democracy, peace, and prosperity to continue to expand our cooperation with our allies, to deepen our partnership and let the world see Taiwan not just as a model of democracy, but a vital power in promoting the world’s peace and stability, and prosperous development,” he said at the Taoyuan International Airport, ahead of his departure.

Though Taiwan retains strong contacts with dozens of other nations, it has only 12 formal diplomatic allies. The self-ruled democracy has recently been facing increasing pressure from China.

It is unclear whether Lai will meet with any members of the incoming U.S. administration during his transit.

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg in July that Taiwan should pay for its defense. The island has purchased billions of dollars of defense weaponry from the U.S. He also evaded answering whether he would defend the island from Chinese military action.

While the U.S. is obligated to help the island defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act, it has maintained a position of strategic ambiguity over whether it would ever get involved if Taiwan were to be invaded by China.

A second Trump administration is expected to test U.S.-China relations even more than the Republican’s first term, when the U.S. imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion in Chinese products. Taiwan is one of the main sources of tension in the bilateral relationship.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday if the U.S. wanted to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait, it is important for it to handle the Taiwan issue “with utmost caution, clearly opposing Taiwan independence and supporting China’s peaceful reunification.”

She additionally mentioned China firmly opposes any type of official interplay between the U.S. and Taiwan, together with visits by Taiwan’s leaders to the U.S. for any purpose.

When former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen went to the U.S. final 12 months as a part of a transit to Latin America, it drew vocal opposition from China. Tsai met with the previous House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the time.

The Chinese army additionally launched drills round Taiwan final 12 months as a “stern warning” over what it known as collusion between “separatists and foreign forces” days after Lai, then Taiwan’s vp, stopped over within the U.S.

China additionally strongly objects to main American politicians visiting the island because it views any official contact with overseas governments and Taiwan as an infringement on its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.

Washington switched its formal recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

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Wu reported from Bangkok