People gather outside the Hyatt Regency hotel in Burlingame, Calif., on Oct. 5, 2026, to welcome former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during her first visit to the United States since leaving office.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen meets U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Los Angeles at 1:00 p.m. ET on April 5.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) deliver statements to the media after their meeting at 3:00 p.m. ET on April 5.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen arrives in New York City at 3:00 p.m. ET on March 29. 

ET on April 5 after meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

At Stanford, former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen warns that China continues to pose a threat to Taiwan and regional security.

Former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen speaks at a Taiwanese National Day celebration in Foster City, Calif., on Oct. 7, 2026.

—Former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called for deeper cooperation among democratic countries in technology, defense, and supply-chain security during a keynote speech at Stanford University on Oct. 7.

The self-ruled island attended the World Health Assembly as an observer from 2009 to 2016, but the regime has blocked it every year since 2017, after then-President Tsai Ing-wen refused to accept Beijing’s “one China” position.

President Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, Premier Cho Jung-tai, and former DPP President Tsai Ing-wen joined Shen at a rally at his campaign headquarters in Taipei on Oct. 4 to show their support.

Former President Tsai Ing-wen inaugurated the Asia UAV AI Innovation Application R&D Center in the county in 2022, and construction of the NCSIST Minxiong campus began the following year.

Then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen poses for a group photo with members of the Taiwan search-and-rescue team deployed to the Turkey earthquake response effort in 2023.

Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have intensified since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) regained the presidency in 2016, with Beijing cutting off formal communications with Taipei after Lai’s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, became president and ramping

Zhu participated in protests against then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen in 2019 on her visit to New York. Photos of the protest show him standing beside Linda Sun, a onetime aide to New York Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul.

The last known exception was in December 2016, when Trump accepted a call from then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen after his first electoral victory.

Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) meets Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan on Feb. 22.

During the 2022 visit, Graham’s delegation met with then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

In April 2023, during a visit by then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, Sun took photos of protesters and sent them to the Chinese official.

On Dec. 2, 2016, Lai’s predecessor, President Tsai Ing-wen, called then-President-elect Trump to congratulate him on his election win. Trump was not yet in office, so the call was one between a head of state and a private citizen.

Even Trump's prior contact with Taiwan, a December 2016 call with then-President Tsai Ing-wen, came before he took office, as president-elect.

Another group of U.S. lawmakers visit Taiwan with a message, sharing it during a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. For the first time, the Netherlands is publicly condemning China's cyber espionage.

Ing-wen.

Czech President Petr Pavel, after he was elected in January 2023, accepted a call from then Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, making him the first EU leader to directly speak with a president of Taiwan, and drawing the ire of Beijing.

In 2019, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen traveled to New York City and held a banquet on July 12. Taiwan’s representatives there invited Cuomo to join the event.

Solomon cited several other incidents in which Sun allegedly exerted her influence to thwart Taiwan from reaching the governor’s office, including blocking an invitation to Cuomo to join a banquet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in New York City

—Former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen praised the strengthening of ties between Taiwan and Canada during her first visit to Toronto since leaving office.

While Cuomo was governor, then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen hosted an event at a hotel in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Taiwan’s local representative sent an invitation to Cuomo.

In 2016, then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen had a congratulatory phone call with then-President-elect Trump after his election victory.

Both letters, co-signed by 20 other House Republicans, said that excluding Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen from the meeting would send the wrong message to China.

The group included then-Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and they met with then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and senior security officials.