New York: William Lai, the vice president of Taiwan, began a sensitive US stopover in New York on Saturday. China has denounced this visit, and Taiwanese officials worry that it could lead to increased Chinese military activity around the democratically-run island.
Lai, who is expected to win Taiwan's presidential election in January, will ostensibly only stop in America for transit on his way to and from Paraguay, where the country's new president will be sworn in the following week.
According to the flight-tracking app Flightradar24, Lai's China Airlines flight from Taipei touched down at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City shortly after 8:15 p.m. local time (0:15 GMT).
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According to officials briefed on the trip, neither Taiwan nor the United States have provided precise information about his US schedule, which both countries are attempting to keep low-key.
Taiwanese officials' visits to the US are routine, according to Taipei and Washington, and are in no way cause for China to act in a "provocative" manner. However, Beijing has reacted angrily to what it perceives as additional US support for Taiwan, which it claims as its own.
In order to intimidate voters ahead of an election next year and instill a "fear of war" in them, Taiwanese officials claim that China is likely to start military exercises next week close to Taiwan. They will do this by using Lai's US stops as an excuse.
Lai briefly mentioned his travels to the US in his press conference before leaving Taiwan, saying he would first travel to New York.
According to the State Department, Lai's visit to the US will be the 11th by a vice president of Taiwan. The department describes these visits as routine but "private and unofficial."
Although Washington is Taiwan's main international supplier of weapons and the island's disputed status is a constant source of contention with Beijing, formal diplomatic relations between the two countries do not exist.
One of the few nations in the world with formal relations with Taiwan is Paraguay.
Lai has already travelled through the US once while serving as Taiwan's vice president, in January 2022, on a trip to Honduras, the island's former ally that switched its allegiance to Beijing in early 2023.
In addition to strengthening ties with Paraguay, Lai said he would have "self-confident" exchanges with other nations during his trip there and meet with delegations from allies. He didn't specify who.
According to Lai, this would "make the world aware that Taiwan is a nation that upholds democracy, freedom, and human rights, and actively engages in international affairs."
Lai visited Honduras last year for the country's presidential inauguration and spoke briefly but meaningfully with US Vice President Kamala Harris there. Who might be travelling to Paraguay next week has not yet been disclosed by the United States.
According to three sources who spoke to Reuters, the Biden administration wanted to keep Lai's visit under wraps in order to maintain the recent momentum in US engagements with senior Chinese officials and avoid inflaming tensions prior to Taiwan's election.
This includes the potential for China's foreign minister Wang Yi to visit the US, which might open the door for US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to meet this year.
Beijing has a special distaste for Lai because he has previously identified as a "practical worker for Taiwan independence." Lai has emphasised time and time again that he does not wish to alter the current situation.
Lai wrote in English on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was "excited to meet with US friends in transit" and that he was going to Paraguay, one of only 13 nations that still maintain formal ties with Taipei.
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The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a US government-run nonprofit that maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan, responded on X by saying that it was looking forward to hosting him "during his transit en route to Paraguay." Laura Rosenberger is the AIT's chair.
According to the official itinerary for the trip published on Saturday, which did not mention the US legs, Lai is scheduled to return from Paraguay via San Francisco and is expected back in Taiwan on Friday.
