A U.S. House speaker meeting with Taiwan’s president on American soil is rare and historic. The high-profile encounter between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is designed to boost support for the island government.
The United States broke off official ties with Taiwan in 1979, when it formally established diplomatic relations with the Beijing government. While the U.S. acknowledges the “one-China” policy in which Beijing lays claim to the island of Taiwan as territory, the U.S. does not endorse China’s claim to the island and remains Taiwan’s key provider of military and defense assistance.
The session with McCarthy, who as House speaker is second in line of succession to the president, is Tsai’s most high-level U.S. visit during her transit, which included a stop in New York last week. The private event Wednesday, which is expected to include Republican and Democratic lawmakers, has been closely held, a reminder of the pressures on her island government under the watchful eye of China.
“Of course, Congress is part of that,” she said. Because the lack of formal diplomatic relations greatly limits any interaction between Taiwan and U.S. leaders, “it becomes even more important that they have meetings with members of Congress.”The Chinese government has expressed its displeasure ahead of Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy, and threatened countermeasures over any contact with the House speaker.
McCarthy, a sandwich shop operator in Bakersfield, California, before working as a congressional aide and being elected to Congress, is not known for vast foreign policy experience., who used her speaker’s gavel as a calling card to bring U.S. influence and aid around the globe, McCarthy is focusing his speakership more inward on the domestic needs of Americans.
While McCarthy has led congressional delegation trips abroad — to Israel, for example, and to Normandy, France, to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II — and had expressed interest in visiting Taiwan, he had not yet made plans for his own trip.drew fierce rebuke from China with live-fire drills that included firing missiles over the island. In December, China sent planes and ships toward Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force.
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