Taiwan's presidential office has outlined details of President Lai Ching-te's upcoming trip to Taiwan's Pacific allies Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and Palau. But, they did not confirm whether the president will transit in the United States as is being reported.
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00:00Well, Taiwan's President Lai Ching-de is going to make his first official overseas trip since
00:05he took office next week.
00:07This morning the presidential office told us some of the details of the trip.
00:11He's going to visit Taiwan's three diplomatic allies in the Pacific, that's Tuvalu, Palau
00:17and the Marshall Islands.
00:19The aim of the trip is to build friendship and build economic resilience and democracy.
00:25These are three of just 12 countries around the world that recognise Taiwan as a country.
00:30That's because China claims Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and puts pressure
00:34on other countries not to recognise Taiwan as a nation.
00:37It's also been whittling down Taipei's diplomatic allies, which makes a trip like these really
00:43important for Taiwan to shore up those relationships.
00:46Significantly, the presidential office did not confirm reports that Lai will stop off
00:51in the United States.
00:53It's expected that he will transit in Hawaii or Guam, though there are gaps in his schedule.
00:59Taiwan's leaders use trips like this to make stopovers in the US an unofficial ally, but
01:03also another very important relationship for Taiwan.
01:07China has in the past staged military drills after such stopovers.
01:12This is a very short trip for Lai.
01:14He'll be away for just about a week, but he'll be dealing with some of Taiwan's most pressing
01:18geopolitical issues.
01:20That's maintaining influence in the Pacific and maintaining a relationship with the United
01:25States without overly antagonising China.
01:28Justin Wu and Rick Glowitt in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.