Tai Pei: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen prepares to visit the US amid ongoing Sino-US tensions. This follows Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Ukraine.
It is reported that he will land in the US during a trip to the Central American countries of Guatemala and Belize. The Washington Post reported, quoting Taiwan President’s Office Spokesperson Lin Yu-chan, that he will visit New York and Southern California. Tsai will leave Taipei on March 29 and return on April 7. It is indicated that Sai will land in New York on March 30 on the way and will land in Los Angeles on April 5 on the way back.
However, as part of an effort to avoid tensions with China, the government of US President Joe Biden clarified that the visit was not official. National Security Spokesman John Kirby said at the press conference that there is nothing unusual, that Tsai has already landed in the US six times while on a trip, and Taiwanese presidents have done this before. There are rumors that he will meet with Kevin McCarthy, the leading Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives. McCarthy was rumored to be planning a visit to Taiwan, similar to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip last year.
Like most countries in the world, the U.S. does not have official relations with Taiwan as it seeks to maintain diplomatic relations with China, which it considers part of its territory. Because China is strongly opposed to bilateral relations between Taiwan and other countries. Earlier this month, Honduras signaled it would cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan to establish ties with China. That would reduce Taiwan’s official diplomatic allies to 13.
