Taiwanese presidential hopeful William Lai to stop in US during Paraguay trip

The DPP candidate will transit through New York and San Francisco when he travels to attend inauguration in South American ally country
However, the independence-leaning politician denies controversial stops in Washington and Virginia headquarters of de facto US embassy

Taiwan

Minnie Chan

Published: 7:22pm, 2 Aug 2023

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Taiwanese Vice-President William Lai Ching-te will stop in the US when he attends the inauguration of Paraguayan President Santiago Pena next week, Taiwan’s Presidential Office announced on Wednesday.

Lai will transit through New York on his way to Paraguay – one of the island’s last remaining allies – and stop in San Francisco on his way home, said Alexander Yui Tah-ray, Taiwan’s foreign vice-minister.

Lai, who will represent the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in the island’s presidential election next year, will lead a delegation of about 50 Taiwanese business leaders and government officials for the week-long trip, according to Yui.

Beijing protests to US over visit by Taiwanese presidential contender

But Yui denied earlier media reports that Lai had asked to visit Washington and Arlington, Virginia, home to the headquarters of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto US embassy in Taiwan.

“From the very beginning, Washington and Arlington, Virginia were never under consideration for the Paraguay trip and coordinating transit in the US,” Yui said at a press conference organised by the Presidential Office.

“All this speculation mentioned by the outside world has now proved to be untrue,” he added.

Yui declined to provide details about who Lai would meet in the US, except to say he would travel in his capacity as an envoy of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who also transited in the US in April on her way to visit Taiwan’s diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize.

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Beijing formally protested to the US two weeks ago when Lai’s planned visit was first reported.

In response, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Beijing against using Lai’s transit in the US as a “pretext for provocative action”, saying such stopovers were “common practice”.

Lai, 63, is considered a front runner in the presidential race. Despite his well-known pro-independence position, Lai has said he has no plans to declare independence for Taiwan if he wins the election in January.

Zhang Bohui, a professor of government and international affairs at Hong Kong’s Lingnan University, said Washington would want to keep Lai’s visit low-profile to avoid further antagonising Beijing.

“Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party hoped that he could visit Washington or the AIT headquarters, but the US side would not want that,” Zhang said.

“The Joe Biden administration wants competition – not conflict – with Beijing. So it would not want more trouble from Lai and the DPP as part of the guard rails in keeping a stable relationship with China,” he added.