Taiwan's Tsai, US Speaker McCarthy laud 'bond' after historic meeting
US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday, becoming the most senior US figure to meet a Taiwanese leader on US soil since 1979 despite threats of retaliation from China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own.
Both discussed a sense of mutual support and cooperation in their statements.
Tsai thanked the US Congress for standing by Taiwan when democracy was under threat and said she had cited former US President Ronald Reagan in telling McCarthy and other Republican and Democratic lawmakers of her belief that "to preserve peace, we must be strong."
"I would like to add that we are stronger when we are together," she said standing side-by-side with McCarthy after their meeting at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
They stood in an atrium in front of a blue and white Boeing aircraft that Reagan flew on as president in the 1980s.
"We will honour our obligations and reiterate our commitment to our shared values behind which all Americans are united," said McCarthy, a Republican who through his House position is number three in the US leadership hierarchy, said the friendship between Taiwan and the US is "a matter of profound
China staged war games around Taiwan last August following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei and Taiwan's defence ministry said a Chinese aircraft carrier group was in the waters off the island's southeast coast ahead of the meeting between Tsai and McCarthy.
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 ahead of Tsai and McCarthy’s arrival for the highest-level meeting for a Taiwanese president on US soil since Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
A small plane flew over the library towing a pro-Beijing banner saying "One China! Taiwan is part of China!"
The meeting is sure to draw a strong reaction from Beijing, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to bring it under its control, by force if necessary.
China repeatedly warned against the 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.
Reuters
