US visit risks Beijing’s fury for president of Taiwan

The leader of Taiwan, the self-governing island of 24 million claimed by China, visited the United States on Thursday and said her people would “never be intimidated,” risking China’s wrath and a further fraying of ties between Beijing and the Trump administration.

The visit by President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, which includes stopovers in New York and Denver, is happening over the objections of China, which urged the US government not to permit it.

Tsai made the trip in the midst of a protracted trade dispute between China and the United States, and just a few days after the Defence Department approved a $2 billion arms sale to Taiwan, a deal that China regards as especially provocative.

While Tsai has visited the United States before, this was her first trip as president to New York, where Taiwan maintains a large unofficial consular and trade office just a few blocks from the United Nations. Taiwan is not a UN member and has no representatives, but 17 countries in the world body continue to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Tsai’s two-day New York itinerary, which required the Trump administration’s approval, included a summit of Taiwan and American business representatives and a dinner banquet with members of the Taiwanese American community.

Her entourage, protected by federal agents and New York police officers, arrived at the midtown Grand Hyatt to a raucous welcome by hundreds of pro-Taiwan demonstrators, waving Taiwanese and American flags and screaming “Zongtong hao!” (“Hello president!”) She shook hands and posed for selfies.

Across the street, a smaller but equally passionate group of pro-Beijing protesters was denouncing the visit. Some were heard shouting, “Down with Taiwan!” and “Unify China!” A Reuters photographer witnessed a brawl between members of the rival demonstrations that was broken up by police.

Later Thursday at a reception held in Taiwan’s consular offices nearby, Tsai welcomed UN ambassadors from the countries, mostly in Latin America and islands in the Pacific Ocean, that recognise Taiwan despite pressure from China.

She thanked them for helping to ensure that Taiwan’s voice is “heard around the world.” And in a pointed reference to China, Tsai said: “I want to reiterate that Taiwan will not and will never be intimidated.”

The United States broke formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan’s government in 1979, ending what was known as the two-China policy, in order to establish relations with China’s Communist government in Beijing. But the United States has maintained unofficial relations with Taiwan and has provided it with defensive weapons meant to deter a Chinese attack.

Chinese Communist authorities in Beijing have long claimed Taiwan as China’s territory and have threatened to unify it with the mainland by force.

Tsai’s visit, which has been planned for months, was partly aimed at reinforcing her government’s ties with the Caribbean nations that recognize Taiwan. Her 12-day itinerary included stopovers at St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and Haiti.

“Freedom, democracy and sustainability are the Taiwanese values we want to share with all our good friends in the world,” Tsai said in a speech before her departure from Taiwan.

Taiwan’s tensions with China, with which it has developed expansive commercial ties, have grown under Tsai, who has been president since 2016. A member of Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, she has stressed what she has called the need to strengthen the country’s military defences. She faces an election in January.

Tsai toughened her rhetoric on China in April after Chinese fighter jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which separates mainland China and Taiwan, for the first time since 1999. Taiwan jets scrambled and repelled their Chinese counterparts, which came within 115 miles of the island’s coast.

“These actions by China are not only unilateral changes to the cross-strait status quo, even more, they are a brazen provocation to regional security and stability,” Tsai said afterward.

Tsai’s pro-independence politics, and Taiwan’s ties with the United States, have led to criticism from China.

In denouncing the Pentagon’s decision to allow the arms sale to Taiwan, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China’s State Council, Ma Xiaoguang, said Tuesday that Tsai’s party should not rely on foreign strength, which would “draw fire against yourself” and require her to “pay a price.”

c.2019 New York Times News Service