Lai’s tour of the Pacific was a chance for him “to indicate these international locations and the world that Taiwan issues”, stated Bonnie Glaser, a Taiwan-China affairs knowledgeable on the German Marshall Fund of the US.
“I believe that the Individuals’s Republic of China at all times desires to go away the impression that Taiwan is remoted and it’s depending on the PRC,” Glaser advised AFP, utilizing China’s official identify.
“When Taiwan’s president travels exterior Taiwan, it is a reminder that there are international locations on the earth that worth their diplomatic relationships with Taiwan,” she stated.
“And naturally, when he transits the US, it is a reminder, I believe, to the general public of Taiwan, that the US and Taiwan have a detailed partnership.”
The USA is Taiwan’s most important backer and biggest supplier of arms, however Washington doesn’t have official diplomatic relations with Taipei.
Lai’s journey comes as the US authorized the doable sale of spare components for F-16 fighter jets and radar programs in addition to communications gear to Taiwan, in offers valued at $385 million in complete.
Earlier this month, Taiwan’s foreign minister Lin Chia-lung met with European Parliament members in Brussels.
It was a part of a pattern of extra senior Taiwanese officers travelling overseas and international locations publicly receiving them regardless of the chance of struggling retaliation from China, Glaser advised AFP.
“I believe there’s security in numbers – the extra international locations that do one thing, the extra that different international locations are keen to do it,” Glaser stated.
“There’s additionally better consciousness of how aggressive and assertive China has been, and so international locations are keen, to some extent, to face as much as China as a result of they do not like China’s behaviour,” she stated.
“And there’s recognition of Taiwan’s position on the earth, particularly in semiconductor chips.”
