the President of TaiwanTsai Ingwen and the Speaker of the House of USKevin McCarthy, gathered in California this Wednesday, the 5th, for an event marking a show of solidarity amid the threats China. The meeting is the second in nearly a year between Tsai and a speaker of the US House of Representatives, following a meeting with Nancy Pelosi last year, despite heavy criticism from Beijing.
Tsai arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday after a trip to Central America and a stopover in the United States citing threats of retaliation from China. Beijing, which considers Taiwan its sovereign territory, organized war drills around the island last August pelosi visited Taipei.
The United States argues that such stops are common practice and there is no need for China to overreact, but the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles countered that it was “wrong” to classify the route as just a stopover, adding that the Taiwanese leader said he was trying to “put on a political show”. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said Beijing was “firmly” opposed to the meeting and will “steadfastly defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The meeting also brings together a bipartisan group of US lawmakers at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. In addition, according to the guest list obtained by CNN, the meeting will include Congressman Pete Aguilar of California, who is a member of the Democratic leadership, and the leaders of the new Special Committee on China.
The meeting between officials is a prominent platform to highlight USTaiwan relations. According to Bonny Lin, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Tsai’s facetoface meeting with McCarthy would show the bipartisan support between the nations.
“President McCarthy is likely to use the meeting to demonstrate that the United States stands behind Taiwan and stands ready to resist (China’s) attempts to internationally pressure, coerce and isolate the island,” Lin said to CNN.
+ China condemns meeting between US House Speaker and Taiwan President
Before the planned stop in California, Tsai’s delegation paid official visits to Guatemala and Belize. The trip to the allied countries was undertaken to strengthen international ties in the face of growing Chinese pressure on Taipei Island.
Shortly before that, on March 29, Tsai visited New York, where she explained that Taiwan’s relationship with the United States “has never been closer.” Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, China dispatched ships near the coast of Taiwan in a show of dissatisfaction, citing a “joint patrol and inspection operation.”
However, such a meeting on US soil is seen as less provocative than a visit to Taiwan by a senior US lawmaker.
Beijing held extensive military drills around the island last August, lasting more than a week, following a visit by thenUS House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei. She was the highestranking US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, and her trip prompted Beijing to accuse Washington of changing the nature of its relationship with the island.
The United States is required by law to sell selfdefense weapons to Taiwan, although it severed formal diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1979 when it recognized the government in Beijing. Due to the unofficial relationship, Tsai’s visit is not referred to as a “state,” in keeping with the longheld “One China” narrative. Technically, this means that Washington recognizes that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory, but has never recognized that specific claim.
Tensions between China and the United States over the future of the democratic island have increased in recent years. Beijing has vowed to take the island by force if necessary, and under leader Xi Jinping has increased military, diplomatic and economic pressure on the democratic territory, including persuading Taipei’s allies to change allegiance.