Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) will transit through the United States while leading a delegation to attend the inauguration of Paraguay’s President-elect Santiago Peña later this month. The delegation's itinerary was released to the public on Wednesday.
According to the itinerary, the delegation of around 50 people will transit through New York on the way to Paraguay, and through San Francisco on the way back to Taiwan. The inauguration ceremony will be held on August 15, and the whole trip is expected to last about seven days.
Santiago Peña was elected president of Paraguay, one of Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic allies, in late April. Peña defeated his opponent Efraín Alegre, who had called for Paraguay to switch its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
Transits by high-ranking Taiwanese officials through the U.S. are very sensitive due to strong objections by the Chinese government, especially by Taiwan’s president and vice president. Typically these transits, which are considered private and unofficial visits, avoid the Washington DC area.
Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Tah-ray Yui (俞大㵢) speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, says that the delegation’s trip never considered transiting through the Washington DC area, despite recent media reports to the contrary.
Yui will join the delegation along with Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General to the President Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Alex Huang (黃重諺), as well as attending staff and journalists.