Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te will travel to the Pacific with three of Taipei’s remaining diplomatic allies starting at the end of the month, his office announced on Friday ( Nov 22 ), but the government forewarned information on US transit stops.
Taiwan’s presidents generally enrage Beijing by making what are formally stop-overs in the United States, Taiwan’s most significant international supporter and supplier of arms.
China conducted military exercises in Taiwan, which Beijing claims is its own place, twice in the past two years following American political or vice-presidential stops.
On those layovers, Chinese presidents usually meet with welcoming lawmakers and give speeches. While he was in the Pacific, Lai planned to stop in Hawaii and perhaps Guam, according to a Reuters report next year.
Deputy Taiwan Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang repeatedly asked for information on the stops at a press conference, where they were in the planning phases and when they would be made public.
” But there is a process, which is that they are handled with safety, respect, convenience and comfort” in thinking, said Tien.
China will do all it can to hinder the trip- Lai’s first worldwide since being inaugurated in May- but Taiwan did n’t been deterred, he added.
” We wo n’t dance to their tune. We’ll carry out our plans and requirements.
Details of the US portion of the trip, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, would probably only be available until about a day before Lai departed.
Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, stated in Beijing that the “one-China rule” was widely accepted but did not directly address the possibility of Lai transiting the US.