Analysis: Lai Has No Travel Plans as U.S. Reportedly Denies Transit

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan's Presidential Office says President Lai Ching-te has no plans for an overseas trip, amid reports that the U.S. blocked Taiwan from making a stopover on the way to visit Latin American allies. Ja Ian Chong, associate professor at National University of Singapore, offers his insights.

Transcript

00:00So it was reported last month that President Lai would be making a visit to Latin American

00:04allies with a stopover in the U.S., though this wasn't ever confirmed by Taiwan's government.

00:10Then on Monday, the presidential office stated that Lai has no plans for an overseas trip

00:15because of typhoon recovery and ongoing tariff talks with the U.S.

00:19That stirred up a lot of debate in Taiwan, especially after the Financial Times reported

00:24that the U.S. had blocked Taiwan from making a stopover in New York due to objections from China.

00:30What is your take on all this, and why might Lai have decided to call off his trip?

00:34So without much more information from Taiwan officially, a lot of what I have to say is

00:40going to be speculative, obviously.

00:42That said, I think we do have several things on the table that we should be considering.

00:49Firstly, a Lai transit or transit by a president of Taiwan through the U.S.

00:56often will raise hackles in Beijing.

00:59And we know that the Trump administration is currently talking with Beijing about some

01:04sort of trade or tariff deal.

01:06So I suppose the Trump administration would like to avoid more complications than they

01:12already have.

01:13That's perhaps one consideration.

01:15And the other is for a lot of the visits that the Taiwan presidents have to Latin America

01:23and the Caribbean, often the key is to have some sort of stopover in the United States where

01:30they can meet with U.S. politicians, where they can also have sufficient media exposure.

01:36So without that opportunity, I suppose it is possible to plan some sort of trip to Latin America.

01:45But, you know, without that exposure in the U.S., perhaps the Lai administration would figure

01:49that it might come, that the trip can be probably better timed.

01:54Former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also criticized the Trump administration's reported

01:59move to deny the stopover in a post on Facebook, saying that she hoped it didn't signify a change

02:05in U.S. policy on Taiwan.

02:07What can you say about the state of U.S.-Taiwan relations right now?

02:10And do you think this suggests a change in ties or a change in U.S. policy on Taiwan?

02:15So the U.S.-Taiwan relationship is, I would say, robust, even if unofficial.

02:21That said, on the Taiwan side, there is a lot of reason for unease.

02:28Unease because of the unpredictability of the Trump administration.

02:34Unease because of the fact that we have the tariff negotiations between Taiwan and the United

02:38States hanging in the air.

02:40And a lot is at stake.

02:42Plus, there's that constant drumbeat of a sort of narrative of being suspicious about

02:50the United States that's in the background.

02:53So with these different kinds of elements in the mix, I guess Taiwan and people in Taiwan,

03:00media in Taiwan, will be looking at every little move and be trying to interpret what is going

03:07on.

03:07But ultimately, I think if you look at the trajectory, we don't see a big change as yet.

03:14There could be, but at least that's not apparent right now.

03:17It's about the patterns that emerge, not specific incidents.

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