Taiwan’s vice president and presidential candidate William Lai‘s passage through the United States was denounced by China’s foreign ministry on Sunday, branding him a “troublemaker through and through.”
Lai arrived in New York on Saturday before travelling to Paraguay, where he will be present for Santiago Pena’s inauguration as president on August 15. The only diplomatic ally of Taiwan in South America is Paraguay.
Lai claimed in a statement posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he was “happy to arrive” in New York, calling it a “icon of liberty, democracy, and opportunities.”
Officials from the US government stated that they anticipated Lai’s arrival to go “without incident.”
A senior administration source told CNN on July 16 that such transits were “fairly common” and that they were “unofficial, in keeping with our US One China policy.”
In January 2022, Lai last travelled via the US.
Despite never having had authority over it, Taiwan is nevertheless claimed by China’s ruling Communist Party, which has also maintained its intention to seize the autonomous island by force.
The Chinese foreign ministry quickly after Lai’s arrival declared that it “firmly opposes” any formal contact between the US and Taiwan as well as any “‘Taiwan independence’ separatists to the US.”
China issued a statement saying, “China regrets and strongly condemns the US decision to organise the so-called’stopover.
Lai obstinately maintains his separatist stance for “Taiwan independence.” He is a troublemaker from the inside out,” it went on.
Additionally, the ministry stated that Taiwan was the “core of the core interests of China” and encouraged the US to uphold the one-China concept, adding that it was “closely following” developments and “would take resolute and strong measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Since the US and the government of Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations, travel by Taiwanese officials to the US is referred to as “transits” rather than “visits” because the stopovers are part of an unofficial trip en route to another location.
According to Taiwan’s vice foreign minister Alexander Yui, Lai is scheduled to pass through San Francisco on August 16 on his way back to Taipei.