Taiwan president scraps Latin America trip amid reports the US opposed stopover in New York
Lai was expected to travel to the Americas next month, as his government seeks to shore up support in a region where many countries have cut diplomatic ties in favour of relations with China, which claims Taiwan as its territory.
Amid reports that the Trump administration had opposed a proposed stopover by the president in New York, his government said Lai had no overseas travel plans due to domestic issues, including natural disasters and tariff negotiations with the United States.
However, one person with knowledge of the discussions told the Associated Press that the US 'had asked Taipei to rearrange the transit – not go through New York.' The Financial Times reported the US denied permission for Lai to stop in New York after China raised objections with Washington about the visit.
The United States has traditionally facilitated transits by Taiwanese leaders, but Lai's trip was bound to infuriate Beijing at a time when US President Donald Trump is trying to negotiate a deal on trade with China. Beijing regularly denounces any shows of support for Taipei from Washington.
The cancellation has drawn concerns from experts that the White House is setting a bad precedent for US-China relations.
However, embassy officials in Guatemala insisted the visit had been postponed because of the 'typhoon that caused many natural disasters' in Taiwan. A source speaking to Reuters said Lai needed to organise his government's response to extreme weather at home.
Taiwan is still recovering from Typhoon Danas, which struck its densely populated west coast this month with record winds and brought widespread damage to its electricity grid and some houses.
Asked about a delay, US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told a regular news briefing no travel plans had been announced so the issue was 'hypothetical.'
'At this point, there have been no … travel plans for the president. There has been, as a result, nothing cancelled,' she said, while reiterating that US transits by high-level Taiwanese officials 'were fully consistent with our longstanding policy and practice.'
Jason Hsu, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former legislator in Taiwan, said Taipei always consults with the United States on transit and called it 'abnormal' for Washington not to agree when such stopovers are permitted under the Taiwan Relations Act.
He added that if the US had prevented Lai's stopover, the Trump administration would appear 'to be accommodating China's red lines.'
Democrats on the house foreign affairs committee accused Trump of folding to Beijing. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is the top Democrat on the house's China committee, called it 'another example of the Trump administration caving to China in hopes of reaching a trade deal.'
'Presidents of both parties have allowed Taiwan officials to transit through the US in the past, and now should be no different,' he said in a statement.
With Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
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