Despite fears of punishment from China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own, US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday. He was the highest-ranking American official to meet a Taiwanese leader on US soil since 1979.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, welcomed Tsai on Wednesday morning. McCarthy, a Republican who holds the third-highest position in the American leadership structure through his membership in the House, greeted Tsai.
McCarthy referred to Tsai as “a great friend to America” at the beginning of a meeting with other Republican and Democratic lawmakers, saying, “I am optimistic we will continue to find ways for the people of America and Taiwan to work together to promote economic freedom, democracy, peace and stability.”
Tsai commended McCarthy and the rest of the congressional delegation for their hospitality, describing it as warm and sunny like the California sun.
During Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August of last year, China held war games nearby, and Taiwan’s defence ministry reported that a Chinese aircraft carrier group was in the waters off the island’s southeast coast prior to the meeting between Tsai and McCarthy in California.
According to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Beijing should not exploit the passage of a Taiwanese president via the US as justification for action or for escalating tensions.
Before Tsai and McCarthy arrived for the highest-level meeting for a Taiwanese president on US soil since Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, supporters waving Taiwan flags and pro-Taiwan and Hong Kong banners chanted “Jiayou Taiwan” — the equivalent of “Go Taiwan” — in the Reagan Library parking lot.
A tiny jet carrying a pro-Beijing flag buzzed over the library after McCarthy and Tsai walked inside “Only China! Taiwan belongs to China.”
Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has pledged to annex it using force if necessary, is sure to respond strongly to the summit.
China has repeatedly warned against a meeting between McCarthy and Tsai, who is on her first US stopover since 2019, although some analysts expect its reaction to being more moderate than that to Pelosi’s Taipei visit.
A meeting in California is seen as a potentially less provocative alternative to McCarthy visiting Taiwan, something he has said he hopes to do.
