USA flight despite China’s warnings: Taiwan’s president in California

There has not been a meeting of this level on American soil since 1979: Taiwanese President Tsai met with House Speaker McCarthy in California. This is a provocation to China.

Despite warnings from China, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen met with senior US House of Representatives 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, McCarthy is the third most important figure in the US state. There has not been a meeting of this level on American soil since 1979. Pro-Beijing and Taiwanese demonstrators gathered in front of the building.

US Secretary of State: The meeting is private

Tsai visited New York last week before heading to Central America. The stop in Los Angeles was the stop on the way back. Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously stated that Tsai was going for stays in the United States that were private and informal in nature.

Blinken urged China not to escalate tensions over Tsai’s visit. “In plain language, this means that Beijing should not use transit as an excuse to take measures to escalate tensions,” he said in Brussels. Transfers by high-ranking Taiwanese politicians are nothing new.

Apparently a Chinese unit off the coast of Taiwan

China’s foreign ministry condemned Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy as “collusion” and declared it would take decisive measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity “in response to the grave mistakes,” the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. With his actions, McCarthy “seriously breached the commitment made by the United States to China on the Taiwan issue.”

So far, there has been no increased Chinese military activity around Taiwan in response to Tsai’s visit, a spokeswoman for the US Department of Defense said. However, the Ministry of Defense in Taipei announced that the Chinese formation around the aircraft carrier “Shandong” is located off the southeastern coast of the island.

The United States is the most important ally

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

Beijing considers diplomatic relations between other countries and Taiwan a violation of the one China policy. The US officially recognizes the government in Beijing as China’s representative, but it is also an important ally of Taiwan.