President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will visit Guatemala and Belize on a 10-day trip starting next week. The Presidential Office announced Tsai’s plans on Tuesday, adding that the trip will also include transit stops in New York and Los Angeles.
This is the first time the president has left Taiwan since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her last international trip was in June 2019 when she visited Taiwan’s allies Haiti, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia.
Guatemala and Belize are another two of Taiwan’s 14 diplomatic allies, but that number has been unstable, especially in Central America. Over the past six years, three Central American countries have cut ties with Taiwan in favor of China.
Earlier this month, Honduras announced that it is looking to establish official diplomatic relations with China. That would mean severing its current ties with Taiwan.
Tsai has not visited Guatemala since 2017 and Belize since 2018. She will leave Taiwan on March 29 and return on April 7.