Tokyo/Hong Kong ¨C Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te returned home Friday after an almost weeklong ¡ª and politically sensitive ¡ª trip to Paraguay and the United States that experts view as a foreign policy success for the self-ruled island.
Although Lai¡¯s political rivals criticized the low profile of his stopovers in New York and San Francisco, experts say the trip achieved its main goals: boosting the presidential candidate¡¯s visibility at home and abroad while avoiding situations that could give Beijing an excuse to overreact.
While in the United States, the 63-year-old chairman of Taiwan¡¯s ruling Democratic Progressive Party gave speeches to the Taiwanese community and met officials from the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington¡¯s de facto embassy in Taipei.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.