U.S. to Let Taiwan Vice President Pass Through L.A.

The United States said Saturday that it has issued a transit visa to Taiwanese Vice President Li Yuan-zu, a move that could easily irritate U.S. relations with China.

The visa will allow Li’s plane to stop in Los Angeles to refuel Thursday and again Jan. 16 on his way to and from Guatemala to attend next Sunday’s presidential inauguration, State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Young said.

“There will be no public activity during the transits,” Young said. “This is consistent with our policy and with our unofficial relationship with Taiwan.”

Under the U.S. policy toward Taiwan approved by President Clinton in 1994, Washington allows Taiwanese leaders to transit through the United States on their way to other destinations.

Li’s visa request had raised the specter of the kind of confrontation that occurred last June when Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui was granted a visa to attend a reunion at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

But a senior White House official said Saturday that issuance of the visa was not expected to have a “material effect” on U.S.-Chinese relations, adding, “This is something that’s been done before.”