29 July2025
Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te has cancelled a trip to three allies in Central and South America after a planned stopover in the United States was reportedly nixed by his US counterpart, Donald Trump.
Lai was preparing to visit Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize in early August, with stopovers planned in New York and Dallas on the first and last leg of the trip, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
The Taiwanese leader’s trip was called off when US officials said they opposed his stop in New York, the newspaper said, citing three people close to the matter.
Lai’s office had never formally announced his trip to Latin America, but on Monday, it said the president had cancelled all overseas travel to focus on tariff negotiations with the US and a cleanup operation following a typhoon in southern Taiwan.
The president of Taiwan cannot officially visit the US, which does not recognise its government. But Taiwanese leaders have made use of “transit stops” in the US over the years to liaise with top administration officials outside Washington, DC.
In 2023, then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen used a transit stop to visit New York and Los Angeles while Joe Biden was still the US president.
Beijing, which claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, held military exercises in the Taiwan Strait after Tsai’s US stop-off to demonstrate its anger.
Surce: Aljazeera
