Taiwan President Lai Ching-te arrived Saturday in the United States for the start of a week-long tour in the Pacific that he said would usher in a new era of democracy, but has sparked fury in Beijing.

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.

Beijing especially bristles at official exchanges between Taiwan and the United States, which does not recognise Taipei diplomatically but is its most important backer and biggest supplier of arms