TAIPEI: Taiwan’s Vice President William Lai flies to the United States on Saturday in a sensitive trip that has angered Chinese officials.

The democratic island is claimed by China, which has vowed to take the territory one day — by force, if necessary — and has ramped up political and military pressure.

It opposes other countries’ official exchanges with Taiwan, and often reacts angrily to Taiwanese leaders’ stopovers in the United States.

Lai — a candidate for Taiwan’s presidential elections next year — is officially making only transit stops in the United States en route to and from Paraguay, where he will be attending the inauguration.

Before boarding his flight on Saturday afternoon, he told reporters that he plans to “interact with leaders from various countries in the world and also meet delegations from like-minded countries” during his trip to Paraguay.

“I will… let the international community know our many efforts to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” Lai said. Earlier in the day, he had also tweeted that he was “excited to meet with US friends in transit”.

In response, Laura Rosenberger, chair of the American Institute in Taiwan — a de-facto embassy for Taiwan based in Virginia — wrote that officials were “looking forward to welcoming” Lai. Lai is expected to stop in New York en route to Paraguay, and San Francisco when flying back.

Last week, China’s foreign ministry urged US leaders to “abide by the One-China principle and… to stop official exchanges between the US and Taiwan”.

Ahead of Lai’s departure, Taiwan had sought to downplay the trip, with foreign ministry spokesman Jeff Liu saying there was “nothing special” about vice president’s transiting in the United States — which has occurred 11 times before.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2023