Taiwan will not be stopped from engaging with the world and will not give in to pressure, President Tsai Ing-wen has said as she arrived back from a trip to Central America and the United States.
China, which claims democratically controlled Taiwan as its territory, reacted with anger to a meeting between the president and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, having demanded it not take place. So far however China has held off ratcheting up military tensions to show its displeasure.
Speaking after stepping off her flight on Friday, Tsai said her enthusiastic welcome overseas was a powerful message.
We showed the international community that in the face of pressure and threats Taiwan will be even more united and will not yield to suppression, nor due to obstructions stop exchanges with the World.”
Tsai said at Taiwan’s main international airport at Taoyuan, outside of Taipei.
China staged war games around Taiwan last August following a visit to Taipei by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. While Taiwan has reported a Chinese aircraft carrier group far off its eastern coast, it has not reported any other unusual military movements.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, in a statement released shortly after Tsai’s flight, landed, reiterated its opposition to her US trip, technically billed as a “transit” though in a reality where her most important meetings took place.
The so-called ‘transit’ is just an excuse, but it is a provocation, relying on the United States to seek independence, it added.
Underscoring the sensitivity of Tsai’s return, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry denied, around 30 minutes before touchdown, a Taiwanese media report that her flight had been subjected to “unknown interference”, saying this was not true.
It did say, though, that a special military task force was deployed to “control the whole process”, using naval and air forces to stand guard.
