Well-wishers gathered to welcome Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on March 29, 2023 in New York (AFP / TIMOTHY A. CLARY)
The meeting scheduled for Wednesday between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy “will do even more damage” to the Sino-US relationship, Beijing said on Monday.
The interview will “hurt the feelings” of the 1.4 billion Chinese people and “affect the political foundation of Sino-US relations,” a spokesman for the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles said in a statement.
Member of the Republican Party, Kevin McCarthy has confirmed that he will meet Tsai Ing-wen in California, ignoring warnings from Chinese diplomacy that he was “playing with fire” by meeting the leader, from an independence party.
After New York on the outward journey, the Taiwanese president plans to make another stopover in the United States on her return from a diplomatic tour of Central America, where she met the president of Guatemala. She is currently in Belize.
China considers the island of Taiwan, with a population of 23 million, to be one of its provinces, which it has yet to manage to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the civil war. Chinese in 1949.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (c) arrives at her hotel on March 29, 2023 in New York, during a trip to the United States (AFP / TIMOTHY A. CLARY)
The United States recognized the People’s Republic of China in 1979 and should in theory have no official contact with the Republic of China (Taiwan), under the “one China principle” defended by Beijing.
Last August, Nancy Pelosi, then president of the American House of Representatives, had nevertheless visited Taiwan, provoking the ire of China which had carried out in retaliation for very important military exercises around the island.
– “The same error” –
“Kevin McCarthy, in defiance of the international community’s broad support for the one-China principle, ignoring the lessons that should have been learned, persists in still wanting to play the Taiwan card” in order to contain Beijing, indicated the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles.
“He will no doubt make the same mistake again, which will further damage the China-US relationship. But it will only strengthen the will and determination of the Chinese people in their common indignation and support for national reunification. .”
Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, on February 7, 2023 in Washington (AFP / SAUL LOEB)
In addition to Taiwan, the two leading world powers oppose each other on many other issues, such as dominance in new technologies, the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China, the imbalance in the trade balance, the TikTok application or even Hong Kong.
China sees with dissatisfaction the clear rapprochement at work in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States, which despite the absence of official relations has provided the island with military support against Beijing for several decades.
The Tsai-McCarthy meeting is planned in the suburbs of Los Angeles, at the Ronald Reagan presidential library, with several other elected members of Congress, said the team of the president of the House of Representatives.
– Loss of Honduras –
This interview “will send a very bad signal in favor of the separatists who are campaigning for the so-called independence of Taiwan” and “will not contribute in any way to peace, security or stability in the region”, deplored the consulate of China.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen delivers a statement to Belize’s Parliament, April 3, 2023 in Belmopan (Belize Government/Government of Belize Press Office)
Chinese diplomacy had already promised to “respond” to a possible meeting between the two officials.
In front of the Parliament of Belize, the Taiwanese president denounced on Monday the “constant threats” of China against her island, which “continues to be excluded from international organizations”.
Belize is, along with Guatemala, one of the last 13 states in the world to recognize Taiwan, after the recent severance of ties with Honduras, which has just recognized Beijing.
Beijing has sought to diplomatically isolate Taipei since Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, as she is a member of a party that traditionally campaigns for independence – an absolute red line for Beijing.
China says it favors “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, with which it has strong economic, historical and human ties, but it has never given up the possibility of using military force to take control of the island.
