SIMI VALLEY, California – US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met Taiwan’s president in California on Wednesday for talks which have already prompted outrage and dire warnings from China.
The Republican chief shook fingers warmly with Tsai Ing-wen, on what’s technically a stop-over after her two-country journey to Latin America to go to Taiwan’s few remaining official diplomatic allies.
Duelling demonstrations from each pro-Beijing and pro-Taipei camps gathered on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley for Tsai’s arrival.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its personal territory and balks at any official contact Taipei has with different international locations.
This week, it warned McCarthy, a California native who’s second in line to the US presidency, that he was “playing with fire” by assembly Tsai.
“China is strongly opposed to the US arranging for Tsai Ing-wen to transit through its territory, and is strongly opposed to the meeting between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the third-ranking US official, and Tsai Ing-wen,” international ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning advised reporters.
“It seriously violates the One-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, and seriously undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Taiwan, a flourishing democracy, has been self-governing for many years. It has its personal army, an impartial judiciary and all the trimmings of a completely functioning state.
But solely a handful of nations acknowledge it as a sovereign nation.
The United States formally acknowledges Beijing, however is a crucial backer of Taiwan, and maintains robust unofficial ties.
Taipei enjoys bipartisan assist within the US Congress, and has grown nearer to Washington beneath Tsai’s management — a lot to China’s annoyance.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken performed down the importance of Tsai’s cease in California, and cautioned Beijing towards utilizing it as an “excuse to ratchet up tensions.”
“These transits by high level Taiwanese authorities are nothing new,” he advised reporters in Brussels, the place he was assembly with NATO international ministers.
“They are private and unofficial.”
‘Resolve to defend ourselves’
Last 12 months, McCarthy’s predecessor, Democrat Nancy Pelosi sparked fury in Beijing by changing into essentially the most senior US politician to go to the island in over twenty years.
That prompted Beijing to launch its largest-ever army workout routines in waters round Taiwan.
McCarthy had initially deliberate to go himself, however opted as a substitute to satisfy Tsai in California.
The determination was considered as a compromise that will underscore assist for Taiwan however keep away from inflaming tensions with China.
His workplace stated that the assembly could be “bipartisan,” whereas US media reported that greater than a dozen different members of Congress would attend.
Tsai’s cease in southern California comes after journeys to Guatemala and Belize and after a short cease in New York final week, the place she was greeted by flag-waving Taiwanese expatriates.
“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,” she stated in New York.
Bonnie Glaser, Managing Director of the Indo-Pacific Program on the German Marshall Fund, stated China had been outspoken concerning the go to in current days, and should really feel that it has to maintain up the rhetoric.
“China has already said some fairly threatening things which suggests to me that they have to respond in some way,” she advised AFP, including that “otherwise (President) Xi Jinping could end up looking weak.”
But China’s response shall be formed partly, Glaser stated, by what McCarthy says publicly after the assembly.
China’s consulate in Los Angeles stated on Monday the assembly would “greatly hurt the national feelings of 1.4 billion Chinese people” and undermine “the political foundation of China-US relations.” — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
