TAOYUAN, Taiwan (Reuters) – The head of Taiwan’s delegation to next week’s inauguration of Donald Trump as U.S. president said on Saturday he was going there to extend the island’s “highest blessings” to the United States.
Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, enjoyed strong support from the first Trump administration, including regularising arms sales which have continued under President Joe Biden. But Trump unnerved Taiwan on the campaign trail by calling for it to have to pay to be defended.
Taiwan parliament speaker Han Kuo-yu, a senior member of the opposition Kuomintang party and who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020, said at Taoyuan airport before leaving for Washington that many foreign leaders were also on their way even with the threatened heavy snow.
“All of our delegation members likewise are taking this enthusiasm to the United States to represent (our) 23 million people, and we extend our highest blessings to the U.S. presidential team and to the people of the United States.”
Han is being accompanied by a cross-party delegation of seven other lawmakers.
China’s delegation is being led by Vice President Han Zheng, and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by telephone with Trump on Friday, discussing issues including Taiwan.
Han’s party traditionally favours close ties and dialogue with China, but denies being pro-Beijing.
The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
China has ramped up its military pressure against Taiwan over the past five years and refuses to speak to President Lai Ching-te, calling him a “separatist”. He rejects China’s sovereignty claims, and China has rebuffed his offers of talks.
Meeting late on Friday with Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president in his first administration, Lai said given China’s threats against Taiwan and Beijing’s cosying up to countries like Russia, democracies needed to work together.
“I believe that when the partnership between Taiwan and the United States becomes stronger, the power to maintain peace and stability in the world will also become stronger,” Lai told Pence.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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