Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, left, receives a gift from East-West Center President Suzanne Vares-Lum at the East-West Center, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te called on China to “open its arms rather than raise its fists” as he wrapped up his first overseas tour since taking office in May.

His remarks at a news conference Friday in Palau, a Pacific Island nation, came in response to widespread speculation that China will hold military drills around Taiwan in response to his trip.

“No matter how many military exercises and warships and aircraft are used to coerce neighboring countries, they will not be able to win the respect of any country,” he said.

The president spoke a day after China’s Foreign Ministry announced sanctions on 13 American companies and six executives in response to recently announced U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 during a civil war that saw the victorious communists take control in Beijing and the Nationalists set up a rival government in Taiwan, an island of 23 million people off China's east coast. China's long-ruling Communist Party says that Taiwan is part of China and must come under its control at some point.

Lai's trip to the Pacific, which included U.S. stops in Hawaii and Guam, took him into the heart of a maritime region where China is jockeying with the United States and its allies for influence and control. He also visited the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, three of the 12 countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The rest of the world, including the U.S., has official ties with China.

The Taiwanese leader, who spoke by phone with U.S. congressional leaders while in Guam, dismissed concern that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump may be less committed to Taiwan’s cause than current President Joe Biden has been.

“Taiwan is confident that it will continue to deepen cooperation with the new government, resist authoritarian expansion, create prosperity and development for both countries, and contribute more to regional stability and peace,” he said.

Lai’s two stops in U.S. territory angered China, which opposes U.S. arms sales and military assistance to Taiwan. Washington is the main supplier of weapons for Taiwan’s defense.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, speaking at a daily briefing in Beijing, accused Taiwan and the U.S. of engaging in official exchanges in Hawaii and Guam and said the U.S. stops provided a platform for Taiwanese independence and separatist activities.

“Lai Ching-te and the DPP authorities have been engaging in Taiwan independence activities under various guises,” Lin said, referring to Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party. “But no matter what they say or do, they will never change the fact that Taiwan is part of China, nor will they stop the overwhelming trend that China will and must be reunited. To seek independence by soliciting foreign support is doomed to failure.”

Lai played up the distinction between authoritarian governments and democracies such as Taiwan and the U.S., noting Russia's military cooperation with both China and North Korea, including the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia for the war against Ukraine.

“As I have often said before, when authoritarian countries gather together, democratic countries must unite to ensure global and regional stability and development,” he said.

Lai also said that China must stop using threats and inducements to try to persuade other countries to switch diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China, after Paraguay kicked out a visiting Chinese diplomat this week. The envoy had skipped a session at a U.N. meeting and instead went to Paraguay’s Congress building to urge lawmakers to break off relations with Taiwan.

Lin, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, called Paraguay's accusations unreasonable and unfounded. “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” he said. “Reaffirming and adhering to the one-China principle is legitimate and above board anywhere in the world."

Taiwan's small number of diplomatic allies has dwindled further in recent years as Beijing has successfully wooed several to establish ties with China.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024