President Lai Forges New Direction for Taiwan on First U.S. Visit

TaiwanPlus News

President Lai Ching-te makes a historic stopover in the United States, passing through the state of Hawaii on his way to visit Taiwan's three diplomatic allies in the Pacific region.

Transcript

00:00A warm Hawaiian welcome for a first-time visitor.

00:05Taiwan's President Lai Ching-de is in the U.S. to shore up ties on the eve of a change

00:10in its administration.

00:12Hawaii, the first stop of a six-day diplomatic blitz across the Pacific, where Lai will be

00:20looking to his friends to help counter aggression from neighboring China, which claims Taiwan

00:25as part of its territory and threatens to take by force.

00:28Peace is priceless and war has no winner.

00:34We have to fight, fight together to prevent war.

00:43Taiwan relies on U.S. backing to help maintain its delicate status quo.

00:47The self-ruled island nation, unrecognized by most of the international community, including

00:52the U.S., which, regardless, is friendly with Taiwan, supplies it with the weapons it needs

00:57to defend itself from China's threat.

01:02In Hawaii, Lai hopes to maintain this arrangement as the presidency switches to Donald Trump,

01:07who has said Taiwan should be paying more for its protection.

01:11If President Lai continues to emphasize the common objectives that Taiwan and the United

01:17States have in common and maybe point out that Taiwan has, in recent years, raised its

01:24defense spending as a percentage of GNP to show its commitment and continues to buy U.S.

01:29weapons, which the U.S. needs to do better in delivering, I think these are strong indicators

01:34of a desire to do all that Taiwan can for its own defense.

01:39On his whistle-stop tour of this state, Lai has been presenting Taiwan as a worthy partner

01:44in its own right, highlighting common ground between Pacific island communities.

01:50Buried inside this mountain is Hawaii's Emergency Operations Center, and it's from here that

01:55any response to a major disaster would be convened.

01:58Hawaii, like Taiwan, faces a range of natural disasters, like earthquakes.

02:03And Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-de, has come here to share his country's experiences

02:08and techniques in facing up to natural disasters.

02:12Lai's friends here have praised Taiwan for coming to Hawaii's aid when it faced devastating

02:16wildfires last year.

02:18A stark contrast, they say, to China's lack of response to the disaster.

02:23With his first foreign tour since assuming the presidency, Lai hopes to brush off China's

02:27claims and show that Taiwan is its own nation, looking beyond neighboring China and able

02:33to build on its existing ties with other countries across the Pacific.

02:38John Su and Rick Lowatt in Honolulu, Hawaii, for Taiwan Plus.

Category

Transcript

Recommended