Taiwan’s Vice President William Lai, a 2024 presidential candidate, disclosed intentions to stop in the US on his way to Paraguay next month, angering Chinese officials. Lai announced his US journey to attend Paraguay’s President-elect Santiago Peña’s August 15 inauguration, a politician who campaigned on boosting ties with Taiwan. Taipei called Lai’s US visit a transit stop, but Chinese authorities criticized it as a covert attempt to promote Lai’s “separatist” agenda.
“China firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan, resolutely opposes sneaky visits by Taiwan independence separatists in any name or for any reason, and resolutely opposes any US connivance to support Taiwan independence separatists,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning. China will monitor the situation and take firm action to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ning said the Chinese government has officially complained to the US over the transit stop. China does not accept diplomatic relations with both Beijing and Taiwan, which it claims as its own. The US has recognized the “One China” policy since the 1970s. While not recognizing Taiwan’s independence, the US does not recognized Chinese authority over the island. Lai’s visit threatens to further strain US-China ties, which have been heated in recent months due to reports of a Chinese spy balloon crossing North America and military confrontations in the South China Sea. When Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen travelled through the US twice to meet her friends in Central America in March, a similar diplomatic incident occurred. She met with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy in California on her way home. China called the conference “wrong” and pledged military vigilance. The US has downplayed China’s worries by noting that such transit pauses are frequent. “There is no reason for the PRC to use this transit as a pretext for provocative actions,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.
The US supplies Taiwanese armaments and has significant unofficial connections with Taiwan. Lai’s visit comes as Latin American countries cut ties with Taiwan in favour of China, the world’s second-largest economy. After cutting ties with Taiwan, Honduras erected an embassy in China last month, claiming economic benefits from good relations with Beijing. Taiwan has only 13 diplomatic friends after Honduras’s decision. In Paraguay’s recent presidential election, conservative candidate Peña advocated for maintaining connections with Taiwan. Efraín Alegre, his centrist competitor, advocated separating with Taiwan and allying with China. Taiwan, a 23-million-person self-governing island, fears that Beijing may invade. Taiwan’s sole South American ally is Paraguay.
