Tsai's visit to the Central American neighbors comes after Honduras became the latest country to cut diplomatic ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing.
The president had stopped in New York on the way, with announced plans to meet House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.
Washington had said there was no reason for China to "overreact" to the "normal, uneventful" trip, while Beijing warned the United States was "playing with fire."
Tsai is due to arrive in Guatemala on Friday afternoon, where she is expected to hold talks with her counterpart Alejandro Giammattei and witness the signing of a cooperation agreement, according to her program.
On Sunday, she travels to Belize, where she is scheduled to meet Prime Minister John Briceno on Monday before departing the next day.
On her way back to Taiwan, Tsai plans to stop in Los Angeles, where McCarthy has said he will meet her.
Earlier this month, Honduras, a neighbor of Guatemala, cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognized China.
The switch reduced the number of number of countries that diplomatically recognize Taiwan to 13.
Paraguay could follow next, with presidential elections due in April and opposition candidate Efrain Alegre having vowed to reevaluate ties with Taiwan.
That would leave only Guatemala, Belize, Haiti, the Holy See, Eswatini and seven small Caribbean and Pacific island nations diplomatically allied to Taiwan.
China considers the self-ruled, democratic island as part of its territory to be retaken one day.
Under its "One China" policy, it does not allow countries to officially recognize both Beijing and Taipei.
Latin America has been a key diplomatic battleground since Taiwan and China separated in 1949, following a civil war when the communists seized power in China, while the nationalists retreated to Taiwan.
In recent years, Nicaragua shifted allegiance to Beijing in 2021, El Salvador in 2018, Panama in 2017 and Costa Rica in 2007.
The United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but maintains "a robust unofficial relationship", according to the State Department.
It is Taiwan's most significant ally and largest weapons supplier, despite having switched recognition to Beijing in 1979.
After Honduras' move, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington offered its "support to people on Taiwan" but that it also stood by its "One-China" policy.
"Countries have to make their own sovereign decisions about their foreign policies," he said. "We leave that to them."
US says China can't alter 'routine' Taiwan trip
New York (AFP) March 30, 2023 -
The United States said Thursday that reprisals by China over a visit by Taiwan's president would not alter US policy, insisting that such stops are nothing new.
China has warned the United States that it is "playing with fire" over the trip by President Tsai Ing-wen, who is in New York on what is officially a transit stopover on her way to Latin America.
She is expected to stop in California on her way back and meet House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
China in August carried out major military exercises around Taiwan, a self-governing democracy it claims, after a visit by McCarthy's predecessor Nancy Pelosi.
"Unilateral attempts to change the status quo will not pressure the United States government to alter our longstanding practice to facilitate transits through the United States," said Daniel Kritenbrink, the top US diplomat for East Asia.
"There is absolutely no reason for China to overreact to this longstanding, routine practice," Kritenbrink told reporters in Washington.
He said that the United States is committed to recognizing only Beijing and said that Tsai has transited through the United States six times previously "without incident."
McCarthy, a Republican, had earlier vowed to follow the Democrat Pelosi by traveling to Taiwan. The meeting in his home state of California had been viewed as a middle ground that would avoid inflaming tensions with China.
But Xu Xueyuan, the charge d'affaires of China's embassy to Washington, told reporters Wednesday that the United States risked "serious confrontation" no matter whether US leaders visited Taiwan or the reverse.
"The US keeps saying that transit is not a visit and that there are precedents, but we should not use past mistakes as excuses for repeating them today," she said.
After arriving in New York, Tsai was greeted by flag-waving Taiwanese expatriates as she addressed a banquet Wednesday evening.
"We have demonstrated a firm will and resolve to defend ourselves, that we are capable of managing risks with calm and composure and that we have the ability to maintain regional peace and stability," Tsai told the dinner.
Laura Rosenberger, who heads the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy in the absence of diplomatic relations, welcomed Tsai to New York but the State Department said that it did not expect officials to meet her.
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