Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday hailed the United States’ “unwavering support” for her self-governing island, during her meeting in California with Republican Kevin McCarthy, arousing the ire of Beijing which promised a “determined” response .
The 66-year-old leader, from a party that traditionally advocates independence — an absolute red line for China — spoke with the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, near Los Angeles, despite repeated threats of retaliations issued by Beijing in recent weeks.
China launched unprecedented military maneuvers around Taiwan last August, when Democrat Nancy Pelosi, McCarthy’s roost predecessor, visited Taiwan.
Beijing on Wednesday compared the new meeting on American soil to “seriously mistaken acts of collusion” between the United States and Taiwan.
“China will take determined and effective measures to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, without explicitly mentioning military exercises.
Your cautious
Against this flammable backdrop, McCarthy struck a cautious tone. The third personage of the American state assured that the relationship between Taipei and Washington was “stronger” than it had ever been “during [sa] life “.
The elected representative from California was surrounded by a large group of parliamentarians, Republicans and Democrats alike, to receive the Taiwanese president, who was in “transit” after a tour of Latin America.
“Their presence and their unwavering support reassure the Taiwanese people: we are not isolated, we are not alone,” said Tsai Ing-wen.
China considers that the democratic and autonomous island of Taiwan is one of its provinces to be taken back, favoring “peaceful reunification”, but without excluding the use of force.
In the name of its “one China” principle, no country is supposed to maintain official ties with Beijing and Taipei at the same time.
Only 13 states still recognize Taiwan, including Belize and Guatemala, Latin American countries that Mme Tsai has visited in recent days to cement the relationship with his few official allies, after a first stop in New York.
But the United States has long maintained a “strategic ambiguity” on the Taiwan question. Washington has recognized Beijing since 1979, but remains Taiwan’s strongest ally and main arms supplier.
Support for the island is one of the few points of consensus between the two parties in the US Congress. Under Tsai Ing-wen’s tenure, Taiwan moved closer to the United States.
Symbols
A fact that Mr. McCarthy tried to recall with great symbolism in front of an old version of Ronald Reagan’s Air Force One presidential plane.
“The friendship between the people of Taiwan and the United States is of great importance to the free world and is essential for maintaining economic freedom, peace and regional stability,” he said.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, who initially wanted to visit Taiwan, avoided discussing China directly alongside Mr.me Tsai, but was more blunt in a post-match press conference.
“There is no need to take retaliatory measures,” he pleaded. But “China is not going to tell me where I can go or who I can talk to,” he added, not ruling out a future visit to the island.
He also called for “continuing arms sales to Taiwan”, which he said are the “best way” to prevent a Chinese invasion of the island. “It’s a key lesson we learned from Ukraine, that the idea of simple sanctions in the future won’t stop anyone,” he insisted.
The Biden administration has also tried to calm things down. On Wednesday, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken stressed that it was only a question of a “transit” of the Taiwanese leader on American territory and not of an official visit. He called on Beijing not to use the interview as an “excuse” to “raise tensions”.
It remains to be seen how the Chinese response will translate into reality.
“China has already made quite threatening statements, which suggests that it must respond in one way or another,” judge with AFP Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program of the American think tank German Marshall fund. Without a strong reaction, Chinese President “Xi Jinping risks appearing weak”.