Exclusive | Taiwanese leader said to be planning US ‘stopover’ that’s set to anger Beijing
William Lai could visit New York and Texas on his way to South America, sources say, at a time when US-China relations are already tense
Analysts said Lai might add Guatemala and Belize, two of the other larger countries in the region, to his itinerary. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung is currently in Paraguay celebrating the 68th anniversary of diplomatic relations with a business delegation, seen as a preparatory step for the presidential visit.
Two people who declined to speak publicly said they believed the choice of a New York stop was driven by its status as a global financial capital – without the political symbolism of visiting Washington that would hugely anger Beijing – while Houston had a large Taiwanese audience and business community.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said it firmly opposed any official contact between the United States and Taiwan, any trip to the US by a Taiwanese leader “in any name or under whatever pretext” or any US support for “Taiwan independence”.