HONOLULU (AP) - On a two-day visit to Hawaii, Taiwan's president Lai Ching-te met with the state’s governor and congressional representatives as part of a Pacific island tour that has already triggered criticism from Beijing.
Taiwan’s president meets Hawaii’s governor and members of Congress in a visit condemned by China
HONOLULU (AP) - On a two-day visit to Hawaii, Taiwan's president Lai Ching-te met with the state’s governor and congressional representatives as part of a Pacific island tour that has already triggered criticism from Beijing.
On Sunday, China's Foreign Ministry said it "strongly condemned" U.S. support for Lai's visit and had lodged a complaint with the U.S. It also denounced a newly announced U.S. weapons sale to Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own territory.
"China will closely monitor the situation's development, and take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity," said the statement.
Hawaii was Lai’s first stop on a weeklong voyage that will later take him to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau. They account for three of the 12 countries Taipei has formal diplomatic relations with.