Taiwan Vice President William Lai is on his way to the United States on Saturday August 12, officially to transit there before traveling to Paraguay, despite China’s opposition to any formal contact between Taipei and abroad. Beijing indeed considers Taiwan as one of its provinces to be reunited one day with the rest of its territory, by force if necessary. China thus opposes any diplomatic contact between the island and foreign countries, and strongly condemns each meeting between Taipei and other governments.
Officially, Mr. Lai simply has to “transit” through the United States, like Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in early April. During this stage, she had met the President of the American House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, and aroused the ire of Beijing.
“Leaving soon for Asuncion, looking forward to meeting American friends in transit,” wrote William Lai on X (new name of Twitter), adding that he is traveling to Paraguay to witness the inauguration of the new president, Santiago Pena. Paraguay is the only country in South America to officially recognize Taipei.
“One China”
In response to Mr. Lai, Laura Rosenberger, the president of the American Institute in Taiwan, which is in Virginia and serves as the de facto American embassy for Taiwan, replied to him on X: “AIT is looking forward to welcome the Vice President during his transit to Paraguay! Mr. Lai must stop in New York on the way there, then in San Francisco on the way back.
In the name of its “one China” principle according to which Taiwan is an integral part of Chinese territory, Beijing on Thursday (August 3rd) condemned this “transit”, calling on American leaders to “cease official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan. “.
On the island, Foreign Secretary Jeff Liu’s spokesman played down, saying there is “nothing special” about Mr. Lai’s time on US soil. He pointed out that this had already happened eleven times.