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Ignoring China’s warnings, US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday local time. Photo/Reuters
The meeting comes amid threats of retaliation from China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory.
McCarthy, a Republican who through her House position is number three in the US leadership hierarchy, greeted Tsai early Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, near Los Angeles.
Supporters waved the Taiwanese flag as well as pro-Taiwan and Hong Kong banners chanting “Jiayou Taiwan” – or the equivalent of “Go Taiwan” – in the parking lot of the Reagan Library ahead of the arrival of Tsai and McCarthy. ReutersThursday (6/4/2023).
This is the highest-level meeting of a Taiwanese president in the US since Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
The meeting is sure to draw a strong reaction from Beijing, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to control it, by force if necessary.
China has repeatedly warned of a possible meeting between McCarthy and Tsai, who is making her first US stop in the US since 2019, although some analysts expect the reaction to be more moderate than Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.
A meeting in California is seen as a potentially less provocative alternative to McCarthy’s visit to Taiwan, something he has said he wants to do.
China staged war games around Taiwan last August following a visit by then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei.