Taiwan President Tsai to visit US during Central America tour

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen will make a stop in the United States to and from her upcoming visits to Central America. Taipei has yet to confirm whether Tsai would be meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Taiwanese presidential office spokesperson Lin Yu-chan told reporters that Tsai would be transiting through New York and Los Angeles as part of her visit to Guatemala and Belize. Tsai will leave on March 29 and return on April 7. Sources told Reuters that McCarthy may meet with Tsai during her stop in California. When pressed on the possible meeting between Tsai and McCarthy, Taiwanese vice foreign minister Alexander Yul said details of Tsai’s transits in the US would be revealed at a later date once the plans are finalized.

Taiwanese presidents routinely make transits through the US while visiting the island’s diplomatic allies in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. While the visits are not considered official, both sides have often used such visits for high-level meetings. The US has no formal diplomatic relations with the island, which China claims as its territory, but it is Taiwan’s major arms supplier and backer.

Guatemala and Belize are two of the 14 countries that still have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Honduras said last week that it plans to seek diplomatic relations with China but has yet to break its diplomatic ties with the island.

Following Taiwan’s announcement of Tsai’s trip, a senior US official said Tsai’s upcoming transits are standard practice and that Beijing should not use such transits as a pretext for increased military aggression toward Taiwan. The official reiterated to reporters on Monday that every Taiwanese leader has transited through the US and that Tsai has made six transits since she became president in 2016 and most recently in 2019.

China ramped up its military drills close to the island last year following the visit of then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. The Taiwanese defense ministry said on Wednesday that it has contingency plans in place in anticipation of China during Tsai’s overseas visits next week. Taiwanese deputy defense minister Po Horng-huei told reporters on the sidelines of a parliament session that the island’s military forces were prepared for any possible move made by Beijing.

“When it comes to what the Chinese communists have done in the past, the defense ministry can have a grasp on it, and will consider the worse scenario,” said Po.