Taiwanese leader Lai Ching-te spoke by phone with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson, Taipei confirmed to AFP on Thursday. The president is currently on a tour in the Pacific which is angering Beijing. China has urged the United States to “stop sending bad signals” to “Taiwanese independence forces”after a phone call between Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te and the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson.
The Taiwanese presidency told AFP that Lai Ching-te and Mike Johnson spoke on Wednesday, without specifying the content of the conversation. The head of state is visiting Guam, an unincorporated territory of the United States and the penultimate stop of his tour in the Pacific.
After Guam, the Taiwanese leader, who has already visited the American state of Hawaii, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, is due to conclude his trip to Palau on Friday. The archipelago is the third Pacific state to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
“Solid as a rock”
Speaking from the U.S. territory of Guam, Lai Ching-te said the U.S.-Taiwan partnership is “solid as a rock” during a banquet attended by the governor of Guam and the director in Washington of the American Institute in Taiwan. “Together we are good partners in defending democracy”he added, also asserting that Taiwan had become “the beacon of democracy in Asia”.
The director, for her part, affirmed that “the United States will continue to help Taiwan strengthen its self-defense capabilities as well as its ability to protect itself against coercion”.
-In Hawaii, a US state, he spoke on the phone with former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi about “Chinese military threats” towards Taiwan.
“National sovereignty”
Lai Ching-te’s Pacific tour is his first trip abroad since taking office in May. It is intended to strengthen international support for Taiwan, at a time when China is seeking to seize its few remaining allies. In response to this tour, Beijing reaffirmed Tuesday that it wanted to defend its “national sovereignty” concerning this territory. “The Taiwan question is at the heart of China’s primary interests”Chinese diplomatic spokesperson Lin Jian told the press. Beijing has “deplored” the approval by Washington of a new arms sale project to Taipei, to the tune of 385 million dollars (364 million euros).
In total, 12 countries around the world still officially recognize Taiwan, with some former support having shifted to Beijing’s side, particularly after promises of aid and investment.
China believes that it has not yet succeeded in reunifying Taiwan with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. It does not rule out the use of force to achieve this.
