F-16 jets escort the plane of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who embarked on a trip to visit Taiwan's allies in the Pacific, on Nov. 30, 2024. Lai's weeklong tour will include stopovers in the United States, which has ignited fiery threats from Beijing.

Taiwan’s president set off on a mission on Saturday to shore up relations with some of his island democracy’s shrinking band of diplomatic allies: three tiny Pacific Island nations that have taken an outsize importance in Taiwan’s struggle against Chinese efforts to push it off the international stage.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will leave Saturday on a week-long tour of the Pacific that includes a stopover in Hawaii, which has ignited fiery threats from Beijing.Lai, on his first trip abroad since taking office in May,