Taiwan's Vice President Lai Ching-te has departed for the United States, where he will make a stopover on his way to Paraguay. China reacted sharply to his move and hinted at a potential countermeasure.

Lai is scheduled to visit Paraguay via New York City to attend the inauguration ceremony of Paraguayan President-elect Santiago Pena on Tuesday. Paraguay has diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Lai plans to return to Taiwan next Friday with a stopover in San Francisco.

Before leaving Taiwan on Saturday, Lai expressed his intention to use his visit to Paraguay to have "self-confident" exchanges with leaders from other countries.
But he did not provide any details about his stopovers in the United States.
It has become customary for both the president and vice president of Taiwan to transit through the United States en route to other countries with which Taiwan has diplomatic ties.

However, the Chinese government firmly voiced its opposition to any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region.

It said it would closely monitor the situation surrounding Lai's trip and take strong measures to protect the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

China conducted military drills around Taiwan after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during her stay in the US in April.

There is concern that China could use Lai's remarks or behavior during his trip as pretext to escalate tensions.

Lai is expected to run in the upcoming presidential election in January as the ruling Democratic Progressive Party candidate.