Taiwan’s vice president will transit through the U.S. next month, travel likely to draw intense pushback from China and further strain relations with Washington.
Vice President Lai Ching-te, who is also a presidential candidate, will stop in the U.S. on his way to attend the inauguration of Paraguay’s president Aug. 14, the island’s presidential office said at a news conference Monday.
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Tah-ray Yui, speaking at the press conference, did not say which city Lai will transit through but that the trip will be “planned according to precedent set by previous trips to South and Central America, for which transit stops in the U.S. were arranged.”
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen transited through the U.S. in April on her way to official meetings in Guatemala and Belize. While Tsai met with U.S. lawmakers in New York and California, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the “transit” description gives it the veneer of an unofficial and private visit.
A Biden administration official reportedly said that Lai’s trip through the U.S. will be “private and unofficial” and is in line with the long-standing “One China” policy — which allows Taiwanese officials to operate independently from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the official name for the Chinese government in Beijing, while withholding recognition of Taiwan as an independent state.
“These transits of senior officials are unofficial in keeping with our U.S. One China policy,” a U.S. official told CNN, adding that the transits are fairly common.
“We’ve had 10 vice presidential transits in the last 20 years. All have occurred without incident,” the official said.
The Wall Street Journal further reported a U.S. official stated that Washington is impartial in Taiwan’s elections and warned Beijing against taking provocative actions related to Lai’s transit in the U.S.
Lai is a member of the Democratic Progressive Party and is the party’s presidential candidate for the elections set to take place in January 2024.
“We don’t take sides. We won’t interfere in Taiwan’s election, and we expect Beijing not to interfere either,” the official reportedly said.
The PRC is “firmly” opposed to any form of “official interaction” between the U.S. and Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters in a briefing Monday.
“The Taiwan question is the very core of China’s core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in the China-U.S. relations,” Mao said.
The PRC has taken provocative military action against Taiwan in response to contacts between Taipei and Washington. This includes live-fire military drills around the island in response to a visit to Taipei by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in August 2022.
In April, Taiwan said that PRC ships and warplanes crossed into its air and sea space in retaliation for Tsai’s “transit” through the U.S. on the way to official diplomatic engagements in Central America.