Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te called on China to “open its arms rather than raise its fists” as he wrapped up his first overseas tour since taking office in May.
His remarks at a press conference Friday in Palau, a Pacific Island nation, came in response to widespread speculation that China will hold military drills around Taiwan in response to his trip.
“No matter how many military exercises and warships and aircraft are used to coerce neighboring countries, they will not be able to win the respect of any country,” he said.
The president spoke a day after China’s Foreign Ministry announced sanctions Thursday on 13 American companies and six executives in response to recently announced weapons sales to Taiwan.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 during a civil war that saw the victorious communists take control in Beijing and the Nationalists setting up a rival government in Taiwan, an island of 23 million people about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off China's east coast. China's long-ruling Communist Party says that self-governing Taiwan is part of China and must come under its control at some point.
Lai's trip to the Pacific, which included U.S. stops in Hawaii and Guam, took him into the heart of a maritime region where China is jockeying with the United States and its allies for influence and control. He also visited the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, three of the 12 countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The rest of the world, including the U.S., has official ties with China.
The Taiwanese leader played up the distinction between democracies such as Taiwan and the U.S. and authoritarian governments, noting Russia's military cooperation with both China and North Korea, including the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia for the war against Ukraine.
“As I have often said before, when authoritarian countries gather together, democratic countries must unite to ensure global and regional stability and development,” he said.
Lai spoke by phone with U.S. congressional leaders while in Guam, in a demonstration of American support for Taiwan. Lai’s two stops in U.S. territory angered China, which opposes U.S. arms sales and military assistance to Taiwan. Washington is the main supplier of weapons for Taiwan's defense.
