The passage of the Taiwanese vice president, William Lai, by the United States is questioned by Beijing, which promises a “vigorous” response to safeguard sovereignty.
China promised this Sunday “firm measures” against the visit of Taiwanese Vice President William Lai to the United States, because it understands this visit as an attack on its claims to sovereignty over Taiwan.
“China strongly opposes any form of official contact between the United States and Taiwan and strongly opposes any travel by Taiwanese independence separatists to the United States,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
“China is closely following William Lai’s visit and will take strong and firm measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Chinese spokesperson said.
According to the Taiwanese authorities, Lai should simply “transit” through US soil before traveling to Paraguay, where he will participate in the inauguration of the new president of that country, Santiago Peña.
Meanwhile, the Taiwanese official, who assumes a position of full independence from China, is expected to meet with American political figures during his stay in New York, where he is at the moment.
“Happy to arrive in the Big Apple, an icon of freedom, democracy and opportunity,” William Lai declared today on the social network X (formerly Twitter) after his arrival in New York.
Lai said he was received by a representative of the American Taiwan Institute, the organization that acts as the de facto US embassy on the island, in the absence of diplomatic relations between Washington and Taipei.
The Taiwanese presidency released video today of William Lai arriving at a hotel in New York, greeted by Taiwanese independence supporters waving American and Taiwanese flags.
After New York, Lai will have to head to Paraguay, one of the last countries to officially recognize Taipei, and on his return he will have to stop in San Francisco.
Lai said he plans to meet with the president of the American Taiwan Institute, Laura Rosenberger, during his stopover in California.
China considers Taiwan one of its provinces, which it has yet to reunite with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
The Chinese government says it is in favor of a “peaceful” reunification with the island, where some 23 million inhabitants are governed by a democratic system. However, the Chinese never gave up on the eventual use of military force to achieve reunification.
The Chinese military had staged three-day exercises around Taiwan in April in response to a meeting in the United States between US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.
Source: Observadora
