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Taiwan Foreign Minister Talks China-Japan Tensions & US Relations - Bloomberg News
Dec 2, 2025 Latest Videos from Bloomberg Radio
Taiwan is confident the Trump administration will allow President Lai Ching-te to make a US stopover, a senior official said, citing recent communication with Washington.
“We don’t think having transit stops in the US will be an issue,” Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said in a Bloomberg News interview on Tuesday. “Based on our communication, we are confident in the near future, we can just have a visit to the Latin American countries by way of the United States.”
President Donald Trump denied a request for Lai to pass through the US in August as part of a trip to diplomatic allies Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize, people familiar with the matter said at the time. The US was concerned the stopover could disrupt trade negotiations with China and a summit with President Xi Jinping, the people said.
If Lai’s transit does go ahead, it could complicate US-China ties as both sides work to implement a one-year trade truce reached in South Korea in October. Trump is also planning a visit to China early next year.
Turning to the dispute between China and Japan, Lin said the tensions sparked by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent comments on Taiwan could take “maybe a year to stabilize.” He added that worsening the friction or issues related to Taiwan would offer little benefit to any party.
“For Beijing, it’s also not in its interest to escalate the conflict,” Lin said in his first TV interview with foreign media since taking up the diplomatic post last year.
Taiwan is at the center of the dispute between China and Japan, which started after Takaichi commented on the possible involvement of Japanese troops if China were to invade Taiwan. Beijing saw those remarks as crossing a red line, and responded with economic and diplomatic reprisals — though Takaichi has rebuffed its demand to retract the remarks.
Taiwan is confident the Trump administration will allow President Lai Ching-te to make a US stopover, a senior official said, citing recent communication with Washington.
“We don’t think having transit stops in the US will be an issue,” Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said in a Bloomberg News interview on Tuesday. “Based on our communication, we are confident in the near future, we can just have a visit to the Latin American countries by way of the United States.”
President Donald Trump denied a request for Lai to pass through the US in August as part of a trip to diplomatic allies Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize, people familiar with the matter said at the time. The US was concerned the stopover could disrupt trade negotiations with China and a summit with President Xi Jinping, the people said.
If Lai’s transit does go ahead, it could complicate US-China ties as both sides work to implement a one-year trade truce reached in South Korea in October. Trump is also planning a visit to China early next year.
Turning to the dispute between China and Japan, Lin said the tensions sparked by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent comments on Taiwan could take “maybe a year to stabilize.” He added that worsening the friction or issues related to Taiwan would offer little benefit to any party.
“For Beijing, it’s also not in its interest to escalate the conflict,” Lin said in his first TV interview with foreign media since taking up the diplomatic post last year.
Taiwan is at the center of the dispute between China and Japan, which started after Takaichi commented on the possible involvement of Japanese troops if China were to invade Taiwan. Beijing saw those remarks as crossing a red line, and responded with economic and diplomatic reprisals — though Takaichi has rebuffed its demand to retract the remarks.