Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen urged continued support for her country and warned its democracy was “under threat” following a high-profile meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.
Speaking at the Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley after discussions with McCarthy, the most prominent official to meet a Taiwanese president in the US, Tsai invoked the late president’s role in fortifying US-Taiwan relations.
The Taiwanese leader said she had stressed to McCarthy, accompanied by a bipartisan group of 17 lawmakers, the importance of the view championed by Reagan that “to preserve peace, we must be strong”.
“We once again find ourselves in a world where democracy is under threat, and the urgency of keeping the beacon of freedom shining cannot be understated,” Tsai said.
Speaking to reporters separately after the discussions with Tsai, McCarthy said it was clear that Washington had to continue the sale of weapons to Taiwan and make sure that arms were provided “on a very timely basis”. He also called for stepped-up economic co-operation with Taiwan.
Asked if he thought the American public would support US military action to defend the island from any attack from China, McCarthy said it was a “hypothetical” that the US should try to prevent, and that meeting Taiwan’s leader was part of an effort to show support for the country.
“Our goal is that hypothetical never comes to fruition. The best way to do that is supply the weapons that allow people to deter war. It’s a critical lesson that we learned through Ukraine.”
McCarthy highlighted the bipartisan nature of his group, saying it would send an important message to China. But he said lawmakers were not trying to change the formula under which the US has maintained official relations with Beijing, and non-official ties with Taipei.
The meeting in California marked a compromise between McCarthy’s and Tsai’s desires for a more high-profile US-Taiwan engagement and efforts to avoid the kind of violent reaction from Beijing that occurred after Nancy Pelosi, then the Democratic House Speaker, visited Taipei in August.
Hours before the meeting on Wednesday, China’s People’s Liberation Army sent the Shandong, its newest aircraft carrier, through the Bashi Channel, which separates Taiwan and the Philippines, on its first navigation training in the western Pacific, according to Taiwan’s defence ministry.
China’s government later condemned the meeting but did not issue additional threats. “This is essentially the United States acting with Taiwan to connive at ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists’ political activities in the United States, conduct official contact with Taiwan and upgrade the substantive relations with Taiwan, and frame it as a ‘transit’,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
It repeated its warning that China would take “resolute steps to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity”, and urged the US to “stop containing China by exploiting the Taiwan question”.
The Biden administration had warned China not to use the meeting as a pretext for greater aggression against Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory and has threatened to annex if Taipei refuses to submit under its control indefinitely.
McCarthy said the meeting, as Tsai transited the US on her way home from Central America, did not preclude a future visit to Taiwan, and said he would not allow China to dictate his travel.
Mike Gallagher, the Republican head of the new House China committee who was part of the delegation, rejected the idea that the meeting would provoke China, suggesting that capitulating to Beijing would recall Reagan’s warning about “feeding the crocodile hoping that he will eat you last”.
Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the committee, said the US bond with Taiwan was “unshakeable” while stressing the US did not want conflict.
In an interview, Krishnamoorthi said the US had to do more to help Taipei, including accelerating the provision of arms to enhance its ability to defend itself. “Given what we are hearing out of Beijing, we need to go faster,” he said.
He said the US was not changing the policies that guide its relations with Beijing and Taipei, but said a change in Chinese behaviour required Washington to respond.
“What is unique about this situation now versus, say, 10 years ago is that unfortunately Beijing and the CCP [Chinese Communist party] appear to want to change the status quo . . . potentially on coercive means,” he added.
US efforts to strengthen Taiwan’s defences, and high-profile initiatives among American politicians in support of Taiwan, have become common amid increasing hawkishness on China. Over the past year, Beijing has hit back against what it calls interference by foreign powers.
Last summer, after Pelosi’s visit, the PLA fired a volley of missiles over Taiwan, some of which landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. China’s military also simulated a naval blockade of Taiwan and operations that would be part of an invasion.
Beijing’s reaction has been more measured during Tsai’s 10-day overseas trip. When she stopped in New York on her way to Guatemala and Belize, two of Taiwan’s allies in Central America, the PLA flew several aircraft across the Taiwan Strait median line, a move it often uses to express displeasure at Taiwanese or US actions.
On Tuesday, as Tsai was about to land in Los Angeles, a Chinese provincial maritime safety administration in Fujian said one of its newest and largest coast guard vessels had started an “inspection patrol” in the Taiwan Strait. But both moves were far below the scale of last year’s manoeuvres.
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