Reports that the Taiwanese president may make a stop in the United States during a future trip are reigniting China’s indignation over the close relationship between the two governments.
Six separate sources told Reuters on Friday that President Lai Ching-te will make a stop in the state of Hawaii while traveling overseas in the next few weeks. Guam was also cited as a possible destination.
Lai’s office stated that it “does not currently have any overseas trips to announce” but will reveal its plans for any such travel when appropriate.
The People’s Republic of China, which considers the island of Taiwan as rightful Chinese territory engaged in an illegitimate separatist movement, expressed frustration over the rumors.
“The Taiwan authorities’ political manipulation activities and separatist provocations using countries having so-called ‘diplomatic ties’ with Taiwan will lead nowhere,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a Friday press conference. “It will not shake the solid and strong international commitment to the one-China principle or stop the overriding historical trend towards China’s reunification.”
He emphasized that China will “always firmly oppose the U.S.’s arrangement for such kind of ‘transit’ trip.”
The U.S. is Taiwan’s primary security ally and its second-largest trade partner after China. Despite this, the U.S. government does not recognize Taiwanese sovereignty.
U.S. diplomacy operates under the “One China” principle, a 1979 policy that acknowledges the Chinese Communist Party as the sole legitimate government of China and Taiwan. However, the U.S. contends that this acknowledgment does not compel the government to end its decadeslong relationship with the island.
The result is an unofficial partnership between the U.S. and Taiwan that neither legitimizes their elected leaders nor urges them to come under the control of the mainland. This arrangement is often referred to as “strategic ambiguity” by State Department officials.
“We urge the U.S. to abide by the one-China principle and provisions in the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, not to allow Lai Ching-te to ‘transit,’ not to send any wrong signal to ‘Taiwan independence’ forces, and take concrete actions to uphold China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Lin said at the Friday press conference.
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The future of “strategic ambiguity” is up in the air as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take back the White House in January.
Trump’s first term was a booming time for U.S.-Taiwan relations that began with him deciding to take a direct call from Taiwan’s then-President Tsai Ing-wen — the first such phone call since 1979. His administration boosted security cooperation between the two governments and even sent diplomats to the island in defiance of Chinese objections.
However, the president-elect’s mood soured somewhat during his latest campaign as he has accused the island of failing to meet commensurate defense spending expectations and muscling the U.S. out of computer chip production.
