Taiwan’s President Delays Trip to the Americas Amid Typhoon Chaos

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te will postpone a planned trip to remaining allies in the Americas, originally scheduled for next month, embassy officials informed Reuters on Tuesday. This decision comes in the wake of typhoon damage and ongoing torrential rains on the island.

Lai had intended to visit the Americas next month as part of his government’s efforts to bolster support in a region where many countries have cut diplomatic ties in favor of relations with China, which asserts Taiwan as its territory.

Embassy officials in Guatemala and Paraguay confirmed that the visit has been delayed indefinitely.

“The trip had to be postponed due to the typhoon that caused extensive natural disasters. We don’t have a new date for rescheduling the visit yet,” an embassy official in Guatemala City told Reuters.

A spokesperson at Taiwan’s embassy in Asunción, Paraguay’s capital, where Lai was also expected to visit, informed Reuters that the Taiwanese leader currently has no plans for international travel.

Earlier on Tuesday, Paraguayan ruling party congressman Hugo Meza criticized the country’s continued diplomatic relations with Taiwan, noting that Paraguay is the last South American nation to recognize Taiwan.

Lai had also planned to make stops in Belize and the United States.

Sources told Reuters earlier this week that Lai would delay the diplomatically sensitive trip his team had proposed to the Trump administration for August.

While the U.S. has traditionally facilitated transits for Taiwanese leaders, Lai’s trip was likely to anger Beijing, especially as President Donald Trump seeks to negotiate a trade deal with China.

Beijing consistently condemns any show of support for Taipei from Washington.

One source who spoke to Reuters earlier stated that Lai plans to postpone the trip until at least later this year for several reasons, including the need to coordinate his government’s response to extreme weather in Taiwan.

An individual with direct knowledge of the matter clarified that the trip is not being canceled, and potential U.S. stopovers are expected to include Texas and another mainland U.S. city.

Lai had considered stops in New York and Dallas during his journey to and from Latin America.

When questioned about the delay, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated during a regular news briefing, “At this point, there have been no travel plans for President Lai. Consequently, nothing has been canceled.” She emphasized that U.S. transits by high-level Taiwanese officials are “fully consistent with our longstanding policy and practice. This has not changed,” she added.

Taiwan is still recovering from Typhoon Danas, which hit its densely populated west coast this month with record winds, causing widespread damage to its power grid and some residential areas.

Recent flooding has inundated streets and buildings in several southern Taiwanese towns, and the weather bureau has warned that more intense rainfall could trigger further landslides. (Reuters)