Representative Greg Stanton (D-AZ) spearheaded a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging the approval of transit for Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te from New York to Central America.
For additional context, President Lai intended to stopover in New York City and Dallas on his way to visit Guatemala, Belize, and Paraguay.
While not barred from entering the United States altogether, the Trump Administration did not give the green light for his stopover, citing that Lai's presence could disrupt ongoing trade negotiations with Mainland China and a potential summit with President Xi Jinping, supposedly at China's request as well.
Lai ultimately did not go.
Rep. Stanton criticized the move in his letter, saying that it "sends a dangerous signal to Beijing about our willingness to make concessions with regard to our national strategic interests."
"Taiwan's Presidents Tsai Ing-wen and Lai Ching-te made five total transits through the United States," Rep. Stanton continued, adding, "Each of these visits demonstrated the United States' steadfast support for Taiwan and its right to participate in global affairs."
As a result, the Arizona Congressman continued, "America's strategic relationships should not be concessions in trade talks, and Taiwan should be off the table in any negotiation with the PRC" and urged Secretary Rubio to reapprove of Lai's transit and reaffirm the United States' alliance with Taiwan, otherwise it will "reinforce Chinese Communist Party (CCP) narratives that the United States will not live up to its commitments."
As we previously covered, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been in talks with Chinese officials on trade policy. If no agreement can be reached by August 12th, the current American tariffs on Chinese imports will remain at 30%. In return, Beijing plans to impose 10% taxes on U.S. goods, marking a significant drop from the escalating prices earlier this year in an intense tit-for-tat between the two countries.
In a similar vein, the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Michael Walsh recently urged the United States to reexamine a sponsored infrastructure deal between the African country of Liberia and the Chinese-backed Ivanhoe Atlantic mining company, as Ivanhoe Atlantic supposedly pressured Liberian President Joseph Boakai to accept the agreement.
