President Tsai Ing-wen embarked on a visit to Central American allies Guatemala and Belize on March 29. Her 10-day, nine-night trip will include transits in New York on her way there and in Los Angeles on the way back before she returns to Taiwan on April 7. One day before her trip, a briefing on Tsai's transit for foreign reporters by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel J. Kritenbrink was first postponed and then canceled.
Tsai Ing-wen, President: “Freedom, democracy, and sustainability are the values of Taiwan that we want to share with our good friends from all over the world. Leading a country out is a president's most important responsibility. During this visit, we will convey Taiwan's three viewpoints to the world. The first is that Taiwan will share the value of freedom and openness with the world. We are a maritime nation and the world's Taiwan so we will absolutely not isolate ourselves in a corner of the Taiwan Strait. We also hope to find a bigger space for Taiwan as well as business opportunities during this visit.”
總統蔡英文表示：「自由、民主、永續，是我們想和全世界的好朋友分享的台灣價值，帶領國家走出去就是總統最重要的任務，那這次出訪我們將會向世界傳達台灣的三個主張，第一，台灣會和世界共享自由開放的價值，我們是海洋國家，是世界的台灣，所以我們絕對不會把自己封閉在台灣海峽的一角，我們也期待在出訪的時候，為台灣尋找更大的空間，以及商機。」