US allows in Taiwan president despite China objections

Iran Press TV

Sun Oct 29, 2017 05:30AM

The United States has allowed Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen to stop over in the US territory of Hawaii despite objections from China, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory and unqualified for state-to-state relations.

Tsai landed in Honolulu on Saturday en route to Taiwan's few diplomatic allies among Pacific countries.

Accompanied by her entourage and members of the media, she left on a short boat ride for the USS Arizona Memorial, which is built over the remains of the battleship sunk in Pearl Harbor in the Second World War, on Saturday afternoon.

China had on Friday urged the US not to allow Taiwan's president to travel through US territory for her week-long trip to Taiwan's three Pacific allies of Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, and the Marshall Islands.

China and Taiwan split amid a civil war in 1949, and relations have been tense. China continues to view self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and subject to a diplomatic protocol known as "One China," according to which other countries should acknowledge Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan.

Earlier this week, the US State Department said there had been "no change to the US one-China policy." It said, however, that allowing Tsai's entrance to the US on Saturday and visit to a Pearl Harbor memorial on the same day was based on Washington's "unofficial" diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

This is Tsai's second trip to the US this year. In January, she stopped over in Houston and San Francisco on her way to and from Latin America, visiting the headquarters of Twitter.