United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will host Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday (April 5). President Tsai Ing-wen is on her first US stopover since 2019, though Taiwanese presidents have regularly made such trips. According to a statement from McCarthy’s office, “On Wednesday, April 5th, Speaker Kevin McCarthy will be hosting a bipartisan meeting with the President of Taiwan at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.” This announcement is the official confirmation of what had been a widely anticipated meeting.
This will be the first between a Taiwanese leader and a US House of Representatives Speaker on American soil, although it is seen as a potentially less provocative alternative to McCarthy visiting Taiwan, something he has said he hopes to do, the news agency Reuters reported on Monday.
Nearly a week back, China threatened to retaliate McCarthy met Tsai Ing-wen.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said on March 29 that Tsai’s transits to the US were not just for her waiting at the airport or hotel, but for her to meet American officials and lawmakers.
Last year in August, Beijing held multi-day military drills around Taiwan in reaction to the visit of then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
The US remains Taiwan’s most important ally — and its biggest arms supplier — despite switching its diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979. Local media reported on Monday that around 20 American lawmakers planned to accompany speaker McCarthy to the meeting in California.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese President Tsai met with members of Belize’s House of Representatives and Prime Minister John Briceno in Belmopan. The two leaders are expected to reaffirm bilateral ties in the wake of Honduras cutting off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in late March to recognize China instead.
(With inputs from agencies)
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