Taiwan (China) leader begins visit to Central America

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled to depart on March 29 for a 10-day tour of Central America, with two stops planned in the United States, where she is expected to meet with congressional leaders, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Tsai Ing-wen's Central American tour will take her to Guatemala and Belize – two diplomatic allies of Taiwan (China), but her transit time in the US will be the most closely scrutinized issue.

Taiwan has always been the “most pressing” issue in US-China relations. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory, and has said it will not rule out the use of force to unify it. Washington has long maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on the Taiwan issue, but is the island’s main arms supplier.

In the United States, the Taiwanese leader is scheduled to give a speech in New York hosted by the Hudson Institute, a US conservative think tank, on March 30, and then give another speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California when she returns to Asia in April.

Tsai's office confirmed the date of the trip but did not confirm the itinerary. Since becoming Taiwan's leader in 2016, Tsai has visited the United States four times, during which she met with Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.

Commenting on the possibility of Tsai Ing-wen meeting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy while in transit in the US, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of China, said on March 29: “It would be another provocative act that seriously violates the one-China principle, harms China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and destroys peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. We firmly oppose this and will definitely take strong countermeasures . ”

Minh Duc (According to Al Jazeera, Reuters)

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