The President of Taiwan visits US Representative Kevin McCarthy – China Ugly

This support assures the people of Taiwan “that we are not isolated and that we are not alone,” Tsai said after the meeting on Wednesday (local time). “We are once again in a world where democracy is under threat,” Tsai said, referring to tensions with China. In particular, she thanked lawmakers from both parties for strengthening Taiwan’s ability to defend itself.

McCarthy said he believes the bond between the US and Taiwan is now stronger than ever in his life.

China reacted angrily on Thursday and announced countermeasures. “In response to the blatant misconduct of the US and Taiwan, China will take strong and decisive action to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement. According to the Taiwanese defense ministry, an association of Chinese aircraft carriers had already crossed waters in the southeast of the island republic shortly before the meeting in the US on Wednesday.

The meeting took place at Ronald Regan’s Presidential Library in the city of Simi Valley, northwest Los Angeles, during a stopover Tsai made on her way back from her journey through Central America, and was not an official visit.

Like most countries in the world, the United States does not officially recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, so as not to violate Beijing’s “One China policy”. The People’s Republic of China insists there can only be one Chinese state, with Beijing as the sole legitimate government.

Taiwan has had an independent government since 1949, but Beijing considers the democratic island part of the People’s Republic of China and has threatened to invade the island in the past. Even before the meeting, the Chinese government criticized the planned meeting in California.

McCarthy, a Republican, is number three in the United States after the president and vice president. China sees a high-level meeting between US and Taiwanese officials as a provocation. The Chinese leadership responded to a visit to Taiwan by McCarthy’s predecessor, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, last August with military maneuvers lasting several days.

So far, there has been no increased Chinese military activity around Taiwan in response to Tsai’s recent visit, a US Defense Department spokeswoman said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Ahead of the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged China not to further inflame tensions between the two countries over Tsai’s stopover in the United States. “In plain language, this means that Beijing should not use the transit as an excuse for measures to increase tensions (…),” Blinken said in Brussels on Wednesday. Transits by high-ranking Taiwanese politicians are nothing new. “They’re private, they’re unofficial.” This also applies to associated meetings.

The United States has long supported Taiwan with weapons, among other things. In early March, the US government approved a planned arms sale to Taiwan worth US$619 million (approximately €566 million). In September, the US approved $1.1 billion worth of arms exports to Taiwan. When the United States established diplomatic relations with China in 1979, it passed its own law to ensure the defense of Taiwan. The “Taiwan Relations Act” assures that the US “is always on Taiwan’s side”.

Support from Taiwan adds to already high tensions between China and the US. In February, the penetration of a suspected Chinese spy balloon into US airspace sparked controversy. The balloon was shot down by the US military a few days later after crossing much of the US and hovering over critical military infrastructure.

To counter China’s power hunger and the East Asian country’s growing military power, the US is also expanding its military presence in the Indo-Pacific. The Pentagon announced in January that a rapid response force of sorts would be set up in Japan. It was a unit that was “more deadly, more agile and more powerful,” it said.

In the Philippines, the US military will gain access to four other bases of the Philippine armed forces, the Pentagon said. This brings the number to nine, reports broadcaster CNN.

In mid-March, at a joint meeting with the heads of government of Britain and Australia, US President Joe Biden announced a concrete timetable for equipping Australia with nuclear-powered submarines to strengthen military deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region. (sda/dpa)