Taiwan’s vice president to transit through the US, raising tensions with China

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 in mid-August, 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 State Department spokesperson told The Hill that Lai will make two-stopovers through the U.S., going to and from his visits in South America, and said that the travel is “routine given the distances involved.” 

The U.S. has “explained to Beijing that there is no reason for them to overreact to this transit or to use it as a pretext for provocative action in the Strait or for interference in Taiwan’s election,” the spokesperson said. 

The spokesperson added that Lai’s transit is in line with the “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.

Lai is a member of the Democratic Progressive Party and is the party’s presidential candidate for elections set to take place in January 2024. The State Department spokesperson said that Washington is impartial in Taiwan’s elections and that at least one other candidate is expected to visit the U.S. in the fall. 

“The United States is committed to impartiality. We do not favor any particular candidate and party, and we’re committed to fair treatment of the candidates,” the spokesperson said.

“All of this is consistent with the concerted efforts we are making [to] preserve peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, which is critical to regional and global security and prosperity. The United States and China have differences when it comes to Taiwan but they have managed those for over 40 years.”

But 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.

The Biden administration is balancing providing support for Taiwan while seeking to stabilize relations with China. It has resumed high-level talks between senior President Biden officials and Chinese politicians that were severed amid a series of conflicts and crises. 

While the Biden administration does not take a position on supporting Taiwan’s independence, it wants to provide the island with the diplomatic clout and military support to fend off Chinese efforts to subsume the country — either by coercion or force.

Updated: 2:20 p.m.