Taiwan says president to transit in US

Taipei : Taiwan Friday said its leader will transit in the United States when she travels to Central America, a move likely to raise tensions with Beijing after a protocol-shattering telephone call with Donald Trump.

President Tsai Ing-wen will transit in Houston January 7-8 as she travels to visit Taiwan allies Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, presidential spokesman Alex Huang said.

She will make another stopover in San Francisco from January 13-14 on her return journey, he added.

"The president's transit in the United States will be arranged according to precedents, including banquets with overseas Taiwanese and visits to relevant industries," Huang told reporters.

He declined to comment on media reports that Tsai might meet with US President-elect Trump's entourage during the stopovers.

The trip comes with tensions between China and Taiwan running high since the unusual call earlier this month from Tsai to congratulate Trump, who has questioned Washington's longstanding policy towards the island.

Beijing has asked the US to stop Tsai flying through its airspace on her way to Central America.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war but Beijing still claims the self-ruling island as part of its territory awaiting unification, by force if necessary.

China has cut off official communication with Tsai's government after it refused to accept the "one China" concept.