US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in California.
He thus became the most senior American figure to meet a Taiwanese leader on American soil since 1979, despite threats of retaliation from China.
Kevin McCarthy, a Republican and the third-ranked U.S. leader in his position in the House, held a ceremony Wednesday morning at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, near Los Angeles. welcome
It should be noted that China started military exercises around Taiwan in August after then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said a Chinese aircraft carrier group was in waters off the island’s southeast coast ahead of the meeting between Tsai Ing and Kevin McCarthy in California.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken said there is nothing new about Taiwan’s president passing through the US and Beijing should not use it as a pretext for any action or escalation.
Supporters of Taiwan and Hong Kong chanted Jiao Taiwan as they waved Taiwanese flags in the Ronald Reagan Library parking lot ahead of the arrival of Tsai Ing and Kevin McCarthy for a high-level meeting with Taiwan’s president on American soil.
China has repeatedly warned against a meeting between Kevin McCarthy and Tsai Ang, who are on their first US stopover since 2019.
However, some analysts expect his response to be more moderate than Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.
The meeting in California is seen as a potentially less provocative alternative to Kevin McCarthy’s visit to Taiwan, which he has said he hopes to do.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the Chinese carrier group was on its way to the Western Pacific for training and was being closely monitored by Taiwan’s navy and air forces and ground-based radar systems.
The ships, led by Shandong, passed through the Bashi Channel separating Taiwan from the Philippines and then into waters southeast of Taiwan, the statement said.
China has sent its aircraft carriers near Taiwan before and at similar sensitive times, but has yet to comment on the carrier group.
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2024-08-25 03:49:35