Former Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen to visit U.S. next week for Stanford security conference

Former Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen announced on Friday that she will visit the United States next week to speak at Stanford University’s technology and national security conference — her first trip to the U.S. since leaving office in 2024, as Reuters reports.

Tsai wrote on Facebook that she will attend the “Stanford DEFCON 2026 Technology & National Security Conference” and deliver the opening speech, Reuters reports. “I will share Taiwan’s experience with friends from academia, government and the technology industry, as well as how we continue to face new challenges in balancing technological development, democratic resilience and national security”, she wrote.

The government of China, which considers democratically governed Taiwan its own territory, regularly opposes any overseas visit by senior Taiwanese officials, including former leaders; China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters adds.

Tsai has already visited Britain, France and Canada since leaving office. China refused to talk to her after she took office in 2016 and won re-election in 2020, considering her and the Democratic Progressive Party “separatists”; Beijing also refuses to talk to her successor, current President Lai Ching-te.

Lai has not yet visited the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s second administration. The U.S. has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is its most important international backer and main arms supplier, Reuters concludes.