Taiwan's president departed Saturday for his trip to the South Pacific that will include a two-day transit in the U.S., his first since assuming office, though few details about his itinerary were made public.

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.

China's military on Thursday vowed to defeat all attempts at secessionism and urged the United States not to send the wrong signals on Taiwan independence, ahead of a trip by Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te to Hawaii as part of a Pacific tour.