McCarthy meets with Taiwan leader as China threatens 'actions' in response

3 yıl önce

US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) (R) speaks with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen while arriving for a bipartisan meeting at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on April 5, 2023.

Frederic J. Brown | Afp | Getty Images

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a bipartisan congressional delegation are meeting Wednesday with Taiwanese PresidentÂ Tsai Ing-wen in Simi Valley, California, in a move that has increased simmering U.S. tensions with China.

The Republican House speaker is the highest ranking U.S. official to meet with a leader of Taiwan on U.S. soil since 1979.

Tsai's meeting with McCarthy follows private meetings she held last week with small groups of U.S. lawmakers. On Friday, she met with three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee in New York City: Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

Also on Friday, Tsai met with House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries in his home state of New York.

Unlike those low-key meetings, however, McCarthy's afternoon of scheduled events with Tsai will include a group of House members and will feature a public joint appearance covered by the international media.

The meeting has infuriated China's Communist Party leadership and prompted veiled threats from Beijing to members of Congress who will be attending the events. China's government said it planned to take "resolute actions" to respond to the "provocation."

China views Taiwan as a province of the Chinese mainland, and it considers any attempt by Taiwan's leaders to act independently of Beijing as a threat to Chinese sovereignty.

Tsai's weeklong trip to the United States is technically unofficial, and is referred to as a "transit," rather than a visit. But in reality, Tsai's packed schedule of high-level meetings with U.S. lawmakers would rival that of any official visit by a world leader.

Tsai's trip to the United States adds a new strain to the already fragile U.S.-China relationship, weakened in recent years by Beijing's territorial expansion in the South China Sea and its aggressive effort to control Taiwan.

Taiwan supporters hold signs during a rally in front of the Westin Bonaventure hotel where Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will spend the night ahead of meeting with Kevin McCarthy, in Los Angeles, April 4, 2023.Â

Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images

In February, a Chinese reconnaissance balloon flying over the United States sparked a public outcry, until it was shot down by American fighter jets off the East Coast.

The following month, a U.S. ban on government devices using the social media app TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, drew an angry rebuke from Beijing.

This is a developing story, and will be updated throughout the day.