President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit diplomatic ally Guatemala next month, Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Raul Morales said on Monday, but it was unclear if she would also transit in the US after her telephone call with US president-elect Donald Trump raised sensitivities in US-Chinese relations.
Tsai is due to visit Guatemala on Jan. 11 and Jan. 12, Morales said.
He gave no details on what Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales and Tsai would discuss.
The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported on Monday that Tsai is planning to transit in New York early next month on her way to visit three diplomatic allies in Central America — Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.
The Salvadoran government said it was working with Taiwan on plans for a visit by Tsai in the second week of January, but gave no specific dates.
The Nicaraguan government had no immediate comment.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is set to be sworn in for a third consecutive term on Jan. 10, so Tsai’s trip to Guatemala would dovetail with that ceremony.
The trip is to take place before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 and Tsai’s delegation would seek to meet Trump’s team, including his nominated White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, the Liberty Times reported.
The Presidential Office said media reports about an overseas trip next month were “excessive speculation.”
It said it would announce any presidential trips at the appropriate time.
US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner said he had no information about whether Tsai would meet US officials if she made a transit stop.
“What I can say about that is that that kind of transit is based on long-standing US practice and it’s consistent with the unofficial nature of our relations with Taiwan,” Toner told a regular media briefing.
An adviser to Trump’s transition team said he considered it “very unlikely” that there would be a meeting between Tsai and Trump if she were to transit in New York.
The White House said on Monday it had sought to reassure China after Trump’s telephone call with Tsai last week, which the administration of US President Barack Obama warned could undermine progress in relations with Beijing.
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