The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, kevin mccarthymet on Wednesday in California with the president of Taiwan in a meeting of a markedly political nature that has already provoked outrage and threats from China. The appointment, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, is part of what is officially considered a scale of the leader Tsai Ing Wenafter his trip to two Latin American countries to meet with Taiwan’s few remaining formal allies.
“The friendship between the United States and the people of Taiwan has never been stronger. It is an honor to welcome President Tsai Ing Wen to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library,” the speaker of the House of Representatives wrote on his Twitter account along with a photo of the two conversing. Tsai also met with a bipartisan group of US lawmakers at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
Before the announced arrival of Tsai, Protesters for and against the president gathered Tuesday night in front of a downtown Los Angeles hotel. His supporters crowded a red carpet leading to the building’s entrance, beating drums, chanting and holding up Taiwanese flags and portraits of the president. A smaller group supporting China gathered around the area chanting at intervals: “One China”.
As expected, Tsai’s transit through the US has fueled new threats from Beijing, at a time when relations between the world’s two largest economies are in a spiral. Beijing, which considers Taiwan its territory and reserves the use of force to control it, He described the meeting as a serious violation of his sovereignty and promised to hit back.
Therefore, the Fujian Maritime Safety Administration announced on Wednesday morning the start of a joint patrol and surveillance operation in the north and center of the Taiwan Strait, just before the Taiwanese president’s meeting with the speaker of the US House of Representatives. The announcement came after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command announced on Sunday that the Army Navy had deployed two destroyers and a frigate in the East China Sea, to perform exercises with live fire.
For its part, the command of the theater of operations published three graphics on the WeChat social network on Tuesday, in which it called for territorial integrity on the occasion of the nextor Ching Ming Festivalwhich recognizes religiousness and respect for ancestors.
“The Chinese soldiers firmly protect the beautiful mountains and rivers not to be missed,” said one of them, while another suggested that Taiwan and mainland China had the “same roots.
Beijing strongly condemned Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy, whom he considers to be the third highest-ranking US official, despite the separation of powers between the executive and the legislature of the US government. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called the meeting a violation of the one-China principle, according to which Washington recognizes Beijing as China’s only legitimate government while maintaining unofficial relations with Taipei.
The Chinese government urged Republican McCarthy to not to “repeat the disastrous mistakes of the past” alleging that this would undermine regional peace and stability and worsen relations between the two countries. With this, she made reference to when McCarthy’s predecessor, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwanese territory in August, the first president of the institution to do so in 25 years. China responded with unprecedented live ammunition firing exercises. And while Chinese military activity has generally intensified since Pelosi’s visit, Taiwan has not reported anything unusual in recent days.
As part of this routine, The Taiwanese military said on Wednesday that it had sighted 14 People’s Liberation Army fighter jets. and three warships operating near the island, two of which had entered the southwest of the island’s air defense identification zone. This occurred a day after the People’s Liberation Army sent 20 missions near Taiwan.
In the words of the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, criticism of Tsai’s trip by China’s ruling Communist Party, which has never controlled the democratic island, is “increasingly absurd.” “Even if authoritarian rule continues to expand and increase coercion, Taiwan will not back down,” he stressed in a statement on Tuesday.
The president arrived in New York on March 29, before visiting Guatemala and Belize, two of her 13 remaining formal diplomatic allies. On Tuesday night local time, she landed in California for the last leg of her 10-day tour. During her stay in New York, she met with the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, and with several US senators. She is expected to return to Taipei on Friday.
Amid growing tensions and during her stay in Belize, the last stop on her visit to Central America before heading to Los Angeles, Tsai held a videoconference with a group of security officials on the island to discuss the “regional situation.”
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