HONOLULU—Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, defying Chinese protests, touched down in Hawaii, kicking off a seven-day Pacific tour during a sensitive transition in Washington. While in the U.S., Lai plans to visit the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency ...

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.