China has pledged to take “resolute and forceful measures” to protect its sovereignty after Taiwanese Vice President William Lai arrived in the United States on a brief visit.
The statement on Sunday came hours after Lai arrived in New York for what was officially billed as a transit stop en route to Paraguay.
Lai, the front-runner to be Taiwan’s next president at elections in January, is on his way to Paraguay to attend President-elect Santiago Pena’s inauguration and is scheduled to make a second stop in the US city of San Francisco on his way back to Taipei.
China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly denounced Lai’s trip.
In a statement issued shortly after Lai landed in New York on a scheduled flight from Taipei, China’s foreign ministry said it opposed any form of visit by “Taiwan independence separatists” to the US.
(Aljazeera)
