Taiwan's president departed Saturday for his trip to the South Pacific that will include a two-day transit in the U.S., his first since assuming office, though few details about his itinerary were made public.
The planned stopovers in Hawaii and the territory of Guam have already drawn fierce criticism from Bejing, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and objects to official exchanges between it and the U.S., the island's biggest backer and military provider.
