Taiwan’s Lai arrives in Hawaii amid first Pacific tour

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te arrived in the US state of Hawaii on Saturday, during a weeklong tour in the Pacific that has prompted Beijing’s anger.

Lai’s two-day stop in the US is his first visit since taking office in May.

The visit has provoked fierce threats from China, which sees the self-governing democratic island of Taiwan as its territory and opposes any international recognition of its sovereignty.

How was Lai met in Hawaii?

The Taiwanese president was met at Honolulu International Airport by American Institute in Taiwan official Ingrid Larson,  Hawaii Governor Josh Green, and others.

“This is the first time the [Taiwan] head of state was greeted on the tarmac, given red carpet treatment and presented with flowers, marking the highest standard of courtesy over the past years, in a departure from the traditional terminal reception protocol,” Taipei’s Presidential Office said in a statement.

No high-ranking US state officials were present to greet Lai at the Honolulu hotel where he is staying, according to Associated Press news agency reporters. But supporters met him with cheers in Mandarin, with some waving Taiwanese flags.

Lai then visited Bishop Museum, Hawaii’s leading museum of natural history and Native Hawaiian culture.

Dee Jay Mailer, the museum’s CEO, gave Lai a lei hulu, or feather garland, made by master featherwork artist Kawika Lum- Nelmida.

In return, Lai gifted Mailer a headdress and neck and shoulder decorative pieces, made by Paiwan and Atayal Indigenous people of Taiwan, respectively.

Lai’s tour will also take him to the US territory of Guam for one night, as he intends to visit Taiwan’s allies the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau. The destinations are the only Pacific nations among the 12 remaining countries which still recognize Taiwan.

Beijing has lambasted Lai’s US visit. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning described Lai’s planned stopover in the US territory of Guam as “separatist actions.”

rmt/wd (AFP, AP)