New York: In a highly sensitive US visit, Taiwan’s president delivered the message on Thursday that keeping her self-ruled island strong will help ensure the world’s safety even as her travel is carefully calibrated to try to contain what furious Chinese officials warn could be a strong response.
Taiwan is billing President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to New York as simply a “transit,” but she kept a full agenda of events Wednesday and Thursday before flying to Central America.
Most provocatively in the eyes of Beijing, her trip is expected to include a meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy next week.
In a sign of the sensitivity of her visit, little about Tsai’s full itinerary has been made public, and her events Thursday were closed to the news media.
The visit while important for Taiwan in demonstrating its overseas support is fraught for both Taiwan and the US because China views Taiwan as its territory and treats any dealings between US and Taiwanese officials as a challenge to its sovereignty.
Even with the precautions, Tsai’s trip, including any meetings with US lawmakers, raises tensions at a time when both China and the US and its allies are boosting their military preparedness for a possible confrontation in the Indo-Pacific.
China’s often-stated determination to take Taiwan, by force if necessary, stands as one of the region’s main flashpoints. Chinese officials are focusing, angrily, on the expected meeting next week between Tsai and McCarthy.
It would be one of the highest-level in-person meetings between US and Taiwanese officials on US soil.
Tsai emphasized Taiwan’s perseverance in the face of daunting challenges in a closed-door speech Thursday night hosted by the Hudson Institute think tank, which awarded her its leadership award.
She said the Taiwanese public remains unswerving in its commitment to democracy, and that Taiwan is the responsible, calm side in contrast to China, which is raising tensions in cross-strait relations, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency.