Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will visit Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during an upcoming trip to the Pacific, prompting condemnations from China, which could respond by staging a fresh round of military drills near the island democracy.
Lai will begin his visit on Saturday to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Palau – three small Pacific countries that are among Taiwan’s 12 formal diplomatic allies. During the visit, Lai will stop over for two nights in Hawaii and one night in Guam – his first transit through US soil since taking office in May, Taipei’s presidential office told CNN.
While on US soil, Lai is expected to “meet with old friends” and participate in closed-door discussions with think tanks, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency.
Taiwanese leaders have often used visits to diplomatic allies to make unofficial stopovers in the United States, which has remained Taiwan’s most important backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations.
The Taiwanese president’s upcoming trip has already drawn the ire of Beijing. A Chinese defense ministry spokesman told a press briefing on Thursday that the military would “resolutely crush any separatist attempt seeking Taiwan independence”.
“Political manipulation and provocation to seek ‘Taiwan independence’ are doomed to fail and can never stop the historical trend of China’s reunification,” spokesman Wu Qian added.
The Taiwan Affairs Office, a Chinese government agency responsible for cross-strait affairs, also labeled Lai’s visit as “a provocative act,” and called on the United States to “stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan’s independence forces.”
China’s ruling Communist party claims Taiwan as a part of its territory, despite having never controlled it, and has repeatedly ruled out the use of force to bring it under control. The Taiwanese government, meanwhile, emphasizes that it is a sovereign government and that the future of Taiwan can only be decided by its population of 23.5 million.
Karen Kuo, a spokeswoman from Taiwan’s presidential office, said Lai’s official visit to the three diplomatic allies is aimed at bolstering friendly relations with like-minded democracies, adding that maintaining regional peace and stability is the joint responsibility of both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Risk of new China drills?
Lai’s visit to Hawaii comes as the leadership of the US, its most important protector, is in a state of transition with observers – and Taiwan – closely watching how the return of Donald Trump to the White House might impact relations with China.
Beijing openly loathes Lai and reacted with fury to his election earlier this year.
Citing regional intelligence assessments, a senior Taiwanese official told CNN that China could respond to Lai’s first overseas trip by staging a new round of military drills near the island.
“[China hopes to] create an incident during the transition period in the United States to highlight its disregard to the Biden administration, and create pressure on the incoming Trump team by drawing a red line,” the official said.
Since the beginning of this year, Beijing has held two rounds of war games near Taiwan – one in May and another in October – both labelled as part of its “Joint Sword 2024” exercises.
The drills, if they come, could be similar in scale to the ones in October, according to a Taiwanese security document obtained by CNN.
In a statement on Wednesday, Taiwan’s defense ministry said any deliberate attempt to create tension in the Taiwan Strait would undermine peace and stability, which is not “the proper behavior of a responsible modern country.”
In April last year, Beijing launched three days of military drills in response to an unofficial visit to California by Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen.
