US trip defies China warning: Taiwan president in California

A meeting of this scale has not been held on US soil since 1979: President Tsai Tsai of Taiwan met with Speaker of the House McCarthy in California. This is a provocation for China.

Defying China’s warnings, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has met with a senior US delegation in California. The head of state met with Republican Kevin McCarthy at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles.

As Speaker of the House of Congress, McCarthy was the third most important person in the US state. A meeting of this magnitude has not been held on American soil since 1979. Both pro-Beijing and pro-Taiwan protesters gathered in front of the building.

US Secretary of State: The meeting was private

Tsai visited New York last week before heading to Central America. Stopped at Los Angeles Station on the way back. Foreign Minister Antony Blinken had previously said Tsai’s stay in the US was private and unofficial in nature.

Blinken urged China not to escalate tensions over Xi’s arrival. “Simply put, Beijing should not use transit as an excuse for actions to escalate tensions,” he said in Brussels. Transfers of high-ranking Taiwanese politicians are nothing new.

A Chinese division on the coast of Taiwan

A statement from the government in Beijing was not initially available. But the leadership had earlier criticized the meeting. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning spoke of a serious violation of China’s policy that “undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Ahead of Xi’s arrival, China had warned the US against “playing with fire”.

So far, there has been no increase in Chinese military activity around Taiwan in response to Sai’s visit, a US Department of Defense spokesman said. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Defense in Taipei announced that the Chinese unit around the aircraft carrier “Shandong” was on the southeast coast of the island.

America is the most important ally

China views the high-level meeting between US and Taiwanese officials as a provocation. Taiwan has had an independent government since 1949, but China considers the democratic island a breakaway territory that it wants to reunify with the mainland — by military force if necessary. The Chinese leadership responded to a visit by McCarthy’s predecessor, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan last August with days of military maneuvers.

Beijing views diplomatic relations between other countries and Taiwan as a violation of its one China policy. The United States officially recognizes the government in Beijing as China’s representative, but is also a key ally of Taiwan.