WASHINGTON: Republican US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Monday (Apr 3) that he will meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday, a move China has said would be a provocation.
“On Wednesday, Apr 5, Speaker Kevin McCarthy will be hosting a bipartisan meeting with the President of Taiwan at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library,” his office announced in a statement.
This will be the first meeting between a Taiwanese leader and a US House of Representatives Speaker on US soil.
The White House has urged China to not use Tsai’s “normal” stopover in the United States as a pretext to increase aggressive activity against Taiwan.
“During transits through the US, the president engages with American friends, in line with past precedents,” Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington said without elaborating when asked about the meeting.
Tsai is stopping over in the United States en route to Central America, where she has met the leaders of Guatemala and is visiting Belize before meeting with McCarthy.
During a banquet in New York last week, Tsai said: “We have demonstrated a firm will and resolve to defend ourselves, that we are capable of managing risks with calm and composure and that we have the ability to maintain regional peace and stability.”
The spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Zhu Fenglian, had previously denounced Tsai’s stopovers and demanded that no US officials meet with her.
“We firmly oppose this and will take resolute countermeasures,” Zhu said at a news conference last week.
China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Beijing strongly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and Taiwan authorities.
“There is but one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. China will take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.
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