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(CNN) Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday and issued a dire warning that “democracy is under threat.”
Tsai met with McCarthy and bipartisan lawmakers at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. It will be the second time in a year that Tsai has met with a U.S. lawmaker of the same rank since then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August. Tsai also became the first Taiwanese president to meet with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives on the US mainland.
“Today, we know that the peace we have maintained and the democracy we have worked so hard to build face unprecedented challenges,” President Tsai said with McCarthy. “We find ourselves once again in a world where democracy is under threat, and the urgency to keep the light of freedom shining cannot be underestimated.”
The conference provided both Tsai and McCarthy with an important platform for emphasizing U.S.-Taiwan relations.
“Friendship between the peoples of Taiwan and the United States is a very important issue for the free world. It is very important to maintain economic freedom, peace and regional stability,” McCarthy said.
“We are stronger together,” Tsai said. “Taiwan appreciates that the United States is on our side in our efforts to protect our way of life.”
China sent several maritime vessels near Taiwan’s coast ahead of the Tsai-McCarthy meeting. China’s Fujian Maritime Safety Administration said in a statement Wednesday night, local time, that Beijing had dispatched a “large-scale patrol and rescue vessel” to the central and northern Taiwan Strait for three days of “joint patrol and inspection” activities. said to have gone
At a press conference after meeting with Taiwan’s president, McCarthy said China would not dictate who to talk to or where to go, but said he had no intention of escalating tensions with Beijing.
Asked what his message was to China amid threats of reprisal over the talks, McCarthy said, “I am the Speaker of the House. There is no place for me,” he said. He also said, “There is no need for retaliation.”
When asked if he was concerned the talks would escalate tensions with Beijing, McCarthy said, “No, it is not our intention to escalate.”
A Pentagon spokesman told reporters on Wednesday that it was not sending additional assets to the Indo-Pacific region in preparation for an aggressive response by China.
In response to Pelosi’s visit last summer, Beijing launched large-scale military exercises around the democratic and autonomous island, interrupting several communications with Washington. Made in the USA.
Tsai’s delegation planned to make a stop in California after making official visits to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize. It is part of a 10-day tour to strengthen Taipei’s overseas ties amid mounting pressure from Beijing.
The Chinese consulate general in Los Angeles condemned the expected meeting with McCarthy as “not conducive to regional peace, security and stability” and warned it would “undermine the political foundation” of Sino-U.S. relations.
“We will closely monitor the development of the situation and resolutely defend the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the consulate said in a statement on Monday.
The Communist Party of China, despite never having ruled over an autonomous democracy, claimed it as their own and vowed to take the island by force if necessary.
In a defiant tone, Tsai told reporters as she left on an international tour late last month that “foreign pressure” would not prevent Taiwan from connecting with the world and with like-minded democracies.
On Tuesday, the island’s foreign ministry called China’s repeated criticism of her trip “increasingly ridiculous and irrational.”
“Taiwan will not back down, nor will the American friends who support Taiwan-Taiwan-US relations. Democratic partners will only be more united and exchange more frequently,” the statement said.
A pivotal moment for McCarthy and Tsai
A source close to McCarthy told CNN that the meeting was an important moment for the chairman. McCarthy has made the creation of a special committee on China one of his top priorities, and sees relations between the United States and China as a central issue of our time.
Wednesday’s meeting included Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, a member of the Democratic leadership, and other members of the IS Congress.
Tsai’s stopover in the US, which included a transit in New York last week, also came amid heightened tensions between the US and China.
The two powers have struggled to stabilize their relationship amid issues surrounding technology security to a Chinese surveillance balloon suspected of crashing over the United States.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement Wednesday, saying he met with Tsai as she was transiting through New York City last week.
“We had a very productive conversation about mutual security and economic interests between the United States and Taiwan, as well as our shared commitment to democracy and freedom,” Jefferies said in a statement.
President Tsai also met with three US senators in New York last week. Republican Senators Joni Ernst, Dan Sullivan and Democratic Senator Mark Kelly have all met with Tsai, according to sources familiar with the meeting. The Wall Street Journal first reported these meetings.
Chinese reaction
Last week, the US’s top envoy to Beijing threatened that Tsai’s presence in the American city could lead to a “serious” conflict in relations.
“Beijing may feel the need to escalate as Ms. Tsai will meet with the US presidency again within a year of the last meeting. and that action is powerful and painful enough for both the United States and Taiwan to realize how much China opposes such activities,” said Washington on Strategic International Issues. Bonnie Lin, director of the Institute’s China Power Project, said.
But other analysts have pointed to factors such as the location and timing of the meeting in the U.S. China may be less aggressive than it was last year.
The White House declined to say in advance whether it would support a meeting between McCarthy and Taiwan’s president.
The United States maintains informal relations with Taiwan, so Ms Tsai’s transit to Taiwan is not an official visit to keep Washington aligned with its longstanding One China policy.
Under this policy, the United States recognizes China’s position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially acknowledged Beijing’s claim to the island of 23 million people. The law also requires that the democratic islands be provided with means of self-defense.
Parliament remains an important pillar of its informal ties, with delegations of parliamentarians visiting the island and in the face of mounting military, economic and diplomatic pressure from Beijing to the island in recent years. Promote legislation to strengthen support and coordination.
This story and headline have been updated to reflect additional developments.
CNN’s Beijing bureau, Wayne Chan of Hong Kong, Larry Register of Atlanta and Lauren Fox of Washington contributed to this report.
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