Taiwan president Tsai starts US transit

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen began her trip and her first transit to the United States this week. Tsai remained defiant on her trip as China warned of retaliation should she have met with Republican US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during her transits.

Tsai arrived in New York on Wednesday as part of her transit to Guatemala and Belize, two countries that still formally recognize Taiwan. Tsai will be staying in New York until Saturday and is set to make another transit to the US on the way back, stopping at Los Angeles. Tsai is also expected to meet with McCarthy during her California transit, which has yet to be confirmed.

“External pressure will not hinder our determination to go to the world,” said Tsai before departing Taiwan. “We are calm and confident, will neither yield nor provoke. Taiwan will firmly walk on the road of freedom and democracy and go into the world. Although this road is rough, Taiwan is not alone.”

Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the United States confirmed Tsai’s arrival in New York and that none of her events were open to the press or the public during her stop. This transit is Tsai’s seventh since taking office in 2016 and comes at a time of concern that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may embolden China to make a military move against the democratically governed island that it claims as its territory.

A potential meeting with McCarthy may be the first between the Taiwanese leader and a US House Speaker on US soil but is seen as a less provocative move compared to McCarthy potentially visiting Taiwan. McCarthy has said he hopes to visit Taiwan, following Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island last year.

Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that up to 20 lawmakers planned to accompany McCarthy to the meeting with Tsai.

On the same day, the Honduran foreign ministry announced that President Xiomara Castro would be traveling to China soon, the announcement of the trip following the move to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China, bringing Taiwan’s diplomatic allies down to 13.