Taiwan’s Tsai and Lai welcome US support as Beijing fumes over election
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and President-elect William Lai Ching-te have hailed the support of the United States for the self-ruled island in meetings with an unofficial delegation from Washington amid anger in Beijing at overseas governments’ congratulations of Taiwan on its weekend election.
The US delegation – including former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg – arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, a day after Lai, currently the vice president, won an unprecedented third term for the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The South Pacific nation of Nauru has announced it is severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan and would instead recognise China, according to a government post on social media.
Following the switch, Taiwan, in turn, said it was ending diplomatic relations with Nauru “to safeguard our national dignity”, said Taiwan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taiwan strongly disagrees.
Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng reports from Taipei, Taiwan.
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