Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will visit three Pacific Island nation allies from the end of this month in his first overseas trip since taking office, the presidential office said Friday.
Presidential spokeswoman Karen Kuo said Lai will visit the Marshall Islands, Palau and Tuvalu — the only Pacific Island nations among Taiwan’s 12 remaining allies — from 30 November to 06 December.
AFP reports that China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since 1949, but Beijing claims the island as part of its territory and has been pressuring countries to drop diplomatic ties with Taipei.
Taiwanese government officials have previously stopped over on US soil during visits to the Pacific or Latin America, angering Beijing.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang told a news conference on Friday that stopovers for Lai’s
upcoming trip had not been finalised and he did not provide further details.
The United States is Taiwan’s most important partner and main security backer but does not recognise Taipei diplomatically.
Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen transited through Hawaii and the U.S territory of Guam during her visit to
Pacific allies in 2017.
Tsai met then U.S House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California in April 2023 during a Latin America trip, to
which Beijing responded with military drills around the island.
Tensions between China and Taiwan have escalated since Lai took office in May.
Lai and Tsai both belong to the Democratic Progressive Party, but Lai has been more outspoken in his
defence of the island’s sovereignty and Beijing calls him a “separatist”.