House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen hailed the strong bond between the United States and Taiwan after their historic meeting in California.
China is strongly provoked by the meeting and in advance asked the US to refuse President Tsai a stopover on his way from Central America back to Taiwan. It was flatly rejected.
Wednesday’s meeting thus became the first known meeting between a leader of the House of Representatives and a Taiwanese president on American soil since the United States severed formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979.
– Strong bond
Rival protesters, pro-Beijing and pro-Taipei, were also present.
– I believe that our bond is stronger now than it has been at any point in my lifetime. And President Tsai, of course, is a great champion of that,” McCarthy said after the meeting, according to Reuters.
Tsai thanked Congress for standing by Taiwan as democracy is threatened, and said she had quoted former US President Ronald Reagan when she spoke to McCarthy and other elected officials about her belief that to “preserve peace, we must be strong”.
– I would add that we are stronger when we stand together, said the president.
Thanks for the support
When McCarthy welcomed Tsai, he emphasized that support from American elected officials for the self-governing Taiwan is increasing in line with the tension with China.
Taiwan is in practice fully self-governing, but China still insists that the island be subject to Beijing and has threatened to invade the island if Taiwan formally declares independence.
After the meeting, Tsai said the US support “reassures the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated, we are not alone”. She went on to say that she reiterated Taiwan’s commitment to the status quo of peace.
Condemns the meeting
China condemns the meeting between the two.
– In response to the seriously flawed cooperation between the United States and Taiwan, China shall implement resolute and effective measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, says a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Not long after, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense reported that it had observed one plane and three ships from China’s army, the People’s Liberation Army, around Taiwan.
Civil war
China and Taiwan have been separated since 1949, when the Communists won the Chinese Civil War and took power on the mainland. The defeated Nationalists sought refuge on the island of Taiwan.
The US recognized in 1979 that Taiwan is part of “one China” and that the government in Beijing represents all of China. The same is done by Norway and the UN. Diplomatic relations with Taiwan take place through informal channels.
