Taiwan Vice President William Lai leaves on Saturday (Aug 12) for a sensitive trip to the United States, China has condemned and Taiwanese officials fear could prompt more Chinese military activity around the democratically governed island.
Lai, the front-runner to become Taiwan’s president in elections in January, is officially making only transit stops in the United States on his way to and from Paraguay for the swearing in of its president.
Taipei and Washington say such stopovers are routine and no cause for China to take “provocative” actions, but Beijing has reacted with anger at what it sees as a further sign of US support for Taiwan, which it claims as sovereign Chinese territory.
China is likely to launch military drills next week near Taiwan, using Lai’s stopovers in the United States as a pretext to intimidate voters ahead of next year’s election and make them “fear war”, Taiwanese officials say
He showed off what he will be taking with him, including the gift of a Garmin solar-powered GPS bike computer for Paraguay’s new president, Santiago Pena, as well as neck cushions and baggage tags emblazoned with words including “Team Taiwan” in English and “Taiwan, your backer” in Chinese.