Taiwanese Leader to Travel to Belize, Guatemala in Transit Via US

BEIJING (Sputnik) - Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen at the head of the island's delegation will travel with an official visit to Belize and Guatemala in transit through the United States from March 29 to April 7, the Taiwanese presidential office said on Tuesday.

The tour to the Central American states, which are friendly towards the island, will last 10 days and nine nights. The delegation will depart from Taiwan on March 29, and arrive in Guatemala on April 1 with a transit stop in New York. On April 3, the delegation will arrive in Belize and then make a transit stop in Los Angeles on its way home on April 5. On April 7, the delegation is scheduled to return to Taiwan.

During the tour, the Taiwanese leader will meet with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and Belize Prime Minister John Briceno. At the same time, Tsai's office has not provided information on whether the Taiwanese president will meet with any US officials during the trip.

Both Belize and Guatemala are among 14 states that diplomatically recognize Taiwan. Those also include Haiti, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Eswatini, Tuvalu and the Vatican. There used to be more, but in the recent years, many states decided to break off their relations with the island and establish diplomatic ties with mainland China instead. Such countries include El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, Panama, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and Nicaragua. Taiwan maintains cooperation with other states through its economic and cultural representative offices.

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.