The island’s President Lai Ching-te will visit Taipei’s three remaining diplomatic allies in the Pacific on a trip starting at the end of the month, his office said, but the government declined to give details on US transit stops.
Taiwanese presidents usually use visits to allied countries to make what are officially stop-overs in the United States, Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier.
On those stopovers, Taiwanese presidents often meet with friendly politicians and give speeches.
Reuters reported last week that Lai was planning to stop off in Hawaii and maybe the US territory of Guam while he was in the Pacific.
Asked repeatedly by reporters at a news conference for details on the stop overs yesterday, Deputy Taiwan Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang said they were in the planning stages and would be announced at an “appropriate time”.
“But there is a principle, which is that they are handled with safety, dignity, convenience and comfort” in mind, said Tien.
Two sources familiar with the situation said details of the US part of the trip would likely only come a day or so before Lai departed.
Of the 12 countries which maintain formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, three are in the Pacific – Palau, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu – and Lai will go to all of them starting from Nov 30, his office said.
His official schedule has him then arriving in the Marshall Islands only in the following week, on Dec.3, without saying where he would be in the intervening period.
The Pacific island nations visits are also important as China is competing for influence with the United States there and has been gradually whittling away at the number of countries in the region who retain ties with Taiwan.
In January, tiny Nauru switched relations back to Beijing.
Palau, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu all put out statements yesterday saying they welcomed Lai’s visit.
“As a long-term partner and good friend of the Marshall Islands, we look forward to the warmly receiving President Lai,” the office of President Hilda Heine said on its Facebook page. — Reuters
