President Lai’s Pacific tour and the Taiwan question

Washington has dismissed Beijing’s objections to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s stopovers in Hawaii and Guam during a Pacific tour. 

The United States reaffirmed that transits through the US by the democratic island’s elected leaders are routine and consistent with long-standing American bipartisan policy.

Amid China’s criticism, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and former Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke separately with Lai, underscoring steadfast Washington support for Taiwan.

Johnson held a call on Wednesday with Lai, who had recently arrived in Guam following a visit to Taiwan’s Pacific ally, Tuvalu, according to sources who spoke with Voice of America on the condition of anonymity.

The call marked the first direct conversation between the US House speaker and Lai since he assumed office in May. 

Overseas tour

Earlier this week, he arrived in Guam for a brief layover before his final stop on his weeklong Pacific tour to Palau. The trip has also included Hawaii and the Marshall Islands. 

This marks Lai’s first overseas tour as president, while VOA reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.

“Every democratically elected Taiwan president has transited the United States,” a US State Department spokesperson told VOA.

Guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three US-China Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances, the spokesperson added that Washington’s policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent for 45 years.

Senior American officials have also noted that these documents – the foundations of the “One China” policy – contain no language explicitly prohibiting a Taiwan president from stopping over in a US city.

Still, Beijing has accused Washington of interfering in what it calls its “internal affairs.”

Chinese officials said they “firmly oppose” any form of official interaction between the US and Taiwan, which it considers a renegade province. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters this week:

Nothing will deter China from upholding national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Taiwan responded that Beijing’s threats over Lai’s visit were counterproductive.

His transits through Hawaii and Guam come as he seeks to garner support from President-elect Donald Trump, who has said Taiwan should pay for US protection.

Diplomatic pressure

In a closed-door address at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Lai expressed Taipei’s commitment to deepening cooperation with the US and contributing to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the broader Indo-Pacific region.

Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a prominent China hawk, has sponsored supporting high-level visits by Taiwanese officials to the United States.

He has also advocated stronger US policy toward Taiwan amid mounting Chinese military and diplomatic pressure. When asked by VOA if he would maintain his support, Rubio said:

The president sets foreign policy, and our job at the State [Department] will be to execute it.

Despite facing sanctions from China, Rubio expressed confidence in finding solutions to engage with Beijing if confirmed.

Under long-standing, self-imposed restrictions by the State Department, a stopover in the capital by a sitting Taiwanese president is considered highly provocative to Beijing.

No sitting Taiwan president, vice president, premier, or ministers of foreign affairs and defense has visited Washington for formal meetings while in office. Republican Representative Andy Barr, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told VOA:

I know there [are] diplomatic rules related to leaders of Taiwan coming to the United States. I think we need to remove any of those impediments. I think President Lai should be able to come, and we should welcome him.

The Communist Party-led People’s Republic of China has never governed Taiwan but claims sovereignty over the self-ruled democracy.

Official position

Washington has “acknowledged” but never endorsed China’s sovereignty claim over Taiwan.

The US maintains a “One China” policy distinct from Beijing’s “One China” principle, taking no official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty and not supporting the island’s independence.

Nike Ching is the Voice of America’s State Department Bureau Chief.

VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson and Mandarin Service reporter Yihua Lee contributed to this report.

This article is republished courtesy of Voice of America. Read the original article here.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of China Factor.