Taiwan president visits US for historic meeting
Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen has been welcomed to a historic meeting in the US, underscoring growing support for the self-ruled island as tensions rise with China.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Tsai briefly shook hands when her SUV pulled up to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in southern California for several hours of meetings.
The two made no comment as small crowds of demonstrators waved signs, both for Taiwan and for China's claim to the island.
Tsai, making the most sensitive stop on a weeklong journey meant to shore up alliances in the US and Central America, was to meet with both Democratic and Republican politicians.
China has viewed any interaction between US and Taiwanese officials as a challenge to its claim to the island as its territory.
With past meetings, China has reacted with shows of force and pulling back on dialogue with the US.
China responded to a visit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan last August with its largest live-fire drills in decades, included firing a missile over the island.
Angry Chinese officials have pledged a sharp but unspecified response to the meeting with McCarthy.
“There’s no reason for the Chinese to overreact in any way,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“We’ll watch this as closely as we can.”
Chinese vessels started a joint patrol and inspection operation in the central and northern waters of the Taiwan Strait, state media announced on Wednesday morning.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it had also tracked the Chinese Army's Shandong aircraft carrier passing through the Bashi Strait, to Taiwan’s southeast.
The Biden administration is watching China’s interactions with Russia and the war in Ukraine, while Congress is probing China over a host of issues, from the Chinese spy balloon that floated over North America earlier this year to the origins of the Covid pandemic to Chinese social media giant TikTok’s data privacy practices.
The United States broke off official ties with Taiwan in 1979 while formally establishing diplomatic relations with the Beijing government.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war and have no official relations, although they are linked by billions of dollars in trade and investment.
China regularly flies fighter planes and bombers near Taiwan to emphasise its stance that the island is obliged to eventually unite with the mainland, by force if necessary.
While the US acknowledges the “one-China” policy in which Beijing lays claim to Taiwan, it does not endorse China’s claim to the island and remains Taiwan’s key provider of military and defence assistance.
Wednesday's session is the first known meeting between a House speaker and a Taiwanese president on American territory since the US broke off formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
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