Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan denied reports Sunday after returning home to Taiwan that she was forced to change her travel plans in the United States because of pressure from China. Lai, who traveled to Washington, D.C. to brief groups in the United States on the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) that was signed with China in late June, was unable to fly to Los Angeles as planned and returned to Taiwan via New York instead. Local media reports said she was forced to cancel her visit to Los Angeles because her speech in Washington reportedly irritated the Chinese government because it said China was responsible for holding back cross-strait relations. 'Even though cross-strait relations have greatly improved, they are still heavily impeded by two factors. First, mainland China is still continuing to expand its military deployment against Taiwan and second the mainland authorities are still not willing to change the policy and law that sanction the use of force against Taiwan, ' Lai said in Washington. 'These are obstacles to the development of cross-strait relations and they need to be eliminated,' Lai added in her speech. The government's top China policy planner insisted, however, that the reports that reaction to the speech led her to change her travel plans 'are sheer speculation without any solid basis or evidence.' Lai attributed the cancellation to mechanical problems on the aircraft she was supposed to take to Los Angeles, and she said that after trying unsuccessfully for six or seven hours to secure a flight to the West Coast, she was forced to return home via New York. The MAC chairwoman said she will visit Los Angeles later this year to meet with Taiwanese immigrants there. On her Washington trip, Lai said U.S. officials, congressional members and think tank scholars she met during her visit supported the signing of the cross-strait ECFA and Taiwan and China's ongoing constructive interaction. 'American friends in general highly support our ECFA deal with China as they believe the agreement could be a catalyst for Taiwan to be included into regional economic integration and forge closer economic ties with its major trading partners,' Lai said. American officials and opinion leaders also believe that the ECFA is something worthy of encouragement even for the U.S., she added. According to an article carried in the Sunday edition of the United Evening News, Chinese officials in charge of Taiwan affairs and think tank scholars met all day Thursday after Lai said in Washington D.C. the previous day that China should renounce the right to use force against Taiwan. The article quoted unidentified Chinese officials and scholars as saying that Taiwan should refrain from touching on such sensitive issues publicly to avoid derailing cross-strait engagements or ruin the political basis for mutual interaction. They argued that as long as Taiwan does not pursue de jure independence, it need not care about China's missile deployments targeting the island, according to the report. 