Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday, despite threats from China.
McCarthy's office announced that the meeting will be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, and will be attended by other members of Congress such as California Democratic Representative Pete Aguilar and other bipartisan leaders of the select committee on China.
The meeting was long overdue, especially after McCarthy spoke of the importance of China not "capturing" Taiwan at the annual House Republican issues retreat held recently.
Speaker McCarthy’s office confirms meeting with Taiwan’s president, which has drawn criticism from China https://t.co/oU2EeGDDSs
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Threats from China
Late last month China threatened to carry out "forceful measures" against the United States and Taiwan if Kevin McCarthy met with the Taiwanese president.
"There is but one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China (...)As the Chinese side has repeatedly stressed, we strongly oppose any form of official interaction and contact between the U.S. side and Taiwan authorities," insisted the spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning.
McCarthy is not intimidated
The Speaker of the House of Representatives has made it clear in the past that he would not be intimidated by the Chinese regime and would not allow the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to tell him what he can and cannot do.
"I don’t think China can tell me where I can go at any time," he said.
It is possible that China will again react negatively to the meeting scheduled in a few days and take action. In the past, the Asian giant took a series of military actions after Nancy Pelosi went to the island in 2022.
