SpaceWar.com reports: “Taiwanese Vice President William Lai vowed on Sunday ‘to resist annexation’ in a speech given during a weekend trip to the United States that China has opposed.

Lai is the frontrunner in Taiwan’s presidential elections next year, and is making transit stops in the United States en route to and from Paraguay, where he will attend the inauguration of president-elect Santiago Pena.

His trip has already roused anger from Beijing, which claims democratic Taiwan as part of China, and which particularly dislikes Lai, accusing him of espousing separatist views.

At a New York luncheon on Sunday, Lai reiterated he would continue to uphold the core tenets of the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen — also hated by Beijing for refusing to accept that Taiwan is a part of China.

‘I will continue… our commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty,’ he said in a speech carried by Taiwanese channel TTV News…”