President William Lai (賴清德) is to visit allies in the South Pacific, where China has been seeking diplomatic inroads.
Lai is to travel from Saturday next week to Dec. 6 to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
The trip comes amid major concern in the US, New Zealand, Australia and others about Beijing’s moves to assert military, political and economic control over the region through loans, grants and security cooperation treaties with Pacific island nations.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Plans for Lai’s transit during the trip “are still being finalized,” Tien said.
Although he was pressed to provide more details about Lai’s transits, Tien remained tight-lipped, saying only that the government would make an announcement “at an appropriate time,” and that any arrangement would have to adhere to the principles of “safety, dignity and convenience.”
Tien also urged the Chinese Communist Party not to make waves over the issue, hoping to create obstacles, stating that Taiwan would not rise to the bait.
He was referring to speculation that Lai’s travels might take him through Hawaii and Guam.
Washington has over the years allowed Taiwanese presidents to make stopovers on US soil during their trips to visit diplomatic allies.
How they were received in the US has often been interpreted by the media as indicating how Washington wants to handle relations with Taipei.
Sources in the know said the aim of the president’s visit to three of the nation’s diplomatic allies in the Pacific was to form strategic partnerships and contribute to building a democratic “umbrella.”
Lai’s visit was in response to an enthusiastic invitation from the heads of diplomatic allies in the region and because it has been five years since a Taiwanese president visited Palau and the Marshall Islands, and seven since a president visited Tuvalu, one source said.
The leaders of the three island nations have been vocal in speaking up for Taiwan, with Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine recently saying that UN Resolution No. 2758 should not be used to exclude Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN, while Tuvaluan Prime Minister Feleti Teo and Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr had publicly defended Taiwan in multiple international events.
Lai’s visit to the Pacific islands was in part due to the US’ Pacific strategy and the importance of maintaining democratic allies, the source said.
It is of the utmost importance that Taiwan deepens collaborations with Pacific island nations, they said, adding that they are seeing greater geopolitical value.
The source cited outgoing US President Joe Biden’s meeting with the 18 heads of state from Pacific island nations at the White House after the second US-Pacific Island Country Summit in September last year as an example.
Pacific island nations, such as Taiwan, are being targeted by Chinese “gray zone” tactics, the source said.
The visit also considered climate change issues, as Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Palau and Taiwan are island nations and are deeply affected by such issues, they added.
Although China had recently invited island nations to attend a forum on island cooperation frameworks for international carbon zero goals, representatives of Taiwan’s Pacific diplomatic allies have spoken up for Taiwan at this year’s UN Climate Change Conference, the source added.
Additional reporting by AP and CNA
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