Taiwan: Taiwan’s Vice President Mr. William Lai, a frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race, has announced plans to stop in the United States as he travels to Paraguay in August 2023.
The visit was revealed as part of Mr. Lai’s plans to attend the August 15 inauguration of Paraguay’s President-elect Mr. Santiago Peña, a politician who campaigned on enhancing ties with Taiwan.
Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, referred to the Vice President’s US visit as a transit stop, but Chinese officials have expressed outrage, calling the move a surreptitious means of generating support for Mr. Lai’s “separatist” agenda.
“China firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan, resolutely opposes sneaky visits by Taiwan independence separatists in any name or for any reason, and resolutely opposes any form of connivance by the United States to support Taiwan independence separatists. China will pay close attention to the development of the situation as well as take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ms. Mao Ning commented.
According to Ms. Ning, the Chinese government has lodged a formal diplomatic complaint with the US over the planned transit stop.
China does not allow countries to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with both Beijing and Taiwan, which it considers a rightful part of its territory.
Ms. Lai’s visit is likely to add further strain to US-China relations, which have been tense in recent months as the two countries traded accusations over an alleged Chinese spy balloon that crossed North America as well as military encounters over the South China Sea.
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