Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen arrived in the United States on Thursday on a trip that has angered Beijing, warning that democracy must be defended and that the island faced threats from "overseas forces," in a veiled reference to China. China, which claims self-ruled and democratic Taiwan as its own and views it as a wayward province, had called on the United States not to allow Tsai to transit there on her overseas tour. "I want to reiterate that Taiwan is not, and will never, be intimidated," Tsai told a reception in New York for representatives of Taipei's 17 diplomatic allies, almost all small Central American, Caribbean or Pacific nations.