Transit diplomacy

Transit diplomacy (Chinese: 過境外交), or stopover diplomacy, is a foreign policy approach in the context of Taiwan–United States relations wherein Taiwanese leaders make a stop in the United States during a tour or visit to Taiwan's formal diplomatic allies. Since United States severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1979, the Taiwanese government has not been able to formally conduct diplomatic exchanges with the U.S. Presidents or vice presidents have since made "stopovers" in the U.S. as part of broader visits to diplomatic allies in order to meet with U.S. officials.

In 1979, the United States recognized the PRC and severed ties with the Taiwanese government, ending official contacts between Taiwan and the U.S.

In 1994, Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui was on a trip to Costa Rica and requested a brief stopover in Hawaii. The Clinton administration permitted his flight to be refueled but refused to let him enter Honolulu to spend a night. Additionally, the reception for Lee was going to take place in a small dingy room in Hickam Air Force Base. This angered Lee, and in protest, he refused to disembark the plane. When the U.S. representative boarded the plane to greet him, Lee was in his sweater and slippers. Lee refused to meet the representative at the door, as he stated sarcastically, "I might slip and enter America."^[1]

In 1995, after president Lee Teng-hui visited his alma mater Cornell University, the PRC government broke off semiofficial contacts and escalated military tensions, initiating the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.^[2]

Although the transits are "unofficial" in nature, they offer opportunities for Taiwanese presidents or vice presidents to have phone calls with high-level U.S. officials, or hold private clandestine meetings with officials.^[3]

Date	President	Location	Countries visited	Details	Ref.
1997	Lee Teng-hui	Hawaii	Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Paraguay	Meeting with former Hawaii governor George Ariyoshi and AIT chairman Richard C. Bush	^[4]
2000	Chen Shui-bian	Los Angeles		Meeting with House Representative Dana Rohrabacher	^[5]
2005		Miami	Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines		^[6]
2007		Anchorage, Alaska	Honduras		^[7]^[8]
2014	Ma Ying-jeou	Los Angeles	São Tomé and Príncipe, Burkina Faso, Honduras		^[9]
2016	Tsai Ing-wen	Miami, Los Angeles	Panama, Paraguay		^[10]
2017		Houston, San Francisco	Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador	Meeting with Texas senator Ted Cruz and governor Greg Abbott	^[11]
2017		Honolulu, Guam	Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands	Visit to USS Arizona Memorial and meeting with Guam governor Eddie Baza Calvo	^[12]
2019		Hawaii	Palau, Nauru, Marshall Islands		^[3]
2019		New York City, Denver	Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia	Meeting with Colorado governor Jared Pollis and visit to National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)	^[13]
2023		New York City, Simi Valley	Guatemala, Belize	Meetings with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in New York and Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Simi Valley	^[14]
2024	Lai Ching-te	Guam, Hawaii	Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Palau	Meeting with Hawaii governor Josh Green	^[15]^[16]

v t e Taiwan–United States relations
Diplomatic posts	Former Embassy of Taiwan, Washington, D.C. Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Atlanta Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Honolulu Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Miami Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Seattle Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States Twin Oaks Former Ambassador of the United States to China American Institute in Taiwan American Institute in Taiwan Kaohsiung Branch Office Former Embassy of the United States in Taipei U.S. Commercial Service in Taiwan Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Diplomacy	Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and the Republic of China Formosa Resolution of 1955 July 2002 state visit to the United States Trump–Tsai call 2022 visit by Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan Congressional Taiwan Caucus Senate Taiwan Caucus Six Assurances Transit diplomacy
Incidents	Rover incident Raid on Taipei Capture of the Tuapse May 24 incident Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations Goldwater v. Carter One-China policy United States beef imports in Taiwan 2022 Laguna Woods shooting
Military relations	Chinese Civil War First Taiwan Strait Crisis Operation King Kong Second Taiwan Strait Crisis Third Taiwan Strait Crisis United States Taiwan Defense Command Yangmingshan American Military Housing American arms sales to Taiwan Major non-NATO ally
Legislation	Taiwan Relations Act Taiwan Security Enhancement Act Taiwan Relations Act Affirmation and Naval Vessel Transfer Act of 2014 Taiwan Travel Act Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act
Related	American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei Formosan Association for Public Affairs International Community Radio Taipei China–United States relations
Category:Taiwan–United States relations

v t e Foreign relations of Taiwan
Africa	Burkina Faso Chad Eswatini Gambia Libya Malawi São Tomé and Príncipe Somaliland South Africa
Americas	Argentina Belize Brazil Canada Chile Dominican Republic El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Mexico Paraguay Peru United States Taiwan Relations Act Taiwan Travel Act TAIPEI Act Venezuela
Asia	Bangladesh China Hong Kong Macau India Indonesia Israel Japan Malaysia Mongolia Myanmar North Korea Pakistan Philippines Singapore Saudi Arabia South Korea Thailand Turkey Vietnam
Europe	Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Holy See Italy Kosovo Latvia Lithuania North Macedonia Netherlands Norway Poland Russia Spain Sweden Slovakia Ukraine United Kingdom
Oceania	Australia Kiribati Nauru New Zealand Palau Solomon Islands Tuvalu
Multilateral	Africa Arab World Caribbean European Union Latin America Oceania countries Third World United Nations World Health Organization
Administration and Policies	Ministry of Foreign Affairs Diplomatic missions of / in Taiwan New Southbound Policy Respirator diplomacy of Taiwan Visa policy / requirements
Related	Chinese Taipei Olympics Geostrategy Passport Political status
Timeline of diplomatic relations

Transit diplomacy

List of transits

References

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