USA – Taiwan
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The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, confirmed on Monday a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday, despite threats of “retaliation” from China, which considers it a “provocation”. “from United States.
It is a meeting rich in gestures towards Taiwan but which puts the Chinese authorities on alert. US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday, April 3, despite threats of retaliation from Beijing.
The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday in suburban Los Angeles, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, with several other elected representatives of Congress, President McCarthy’s team said in a statement Monday.
China has vowed to “retaliate” against any meeting between the two leaders.
Beijing views Taiwan, with a population of 24 million, as one of its provinces that has yet to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
Xi Jinping’s Executive is unhappy with the rapprochement in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States, which has provided the island with military support against Beijing for several decades.
The principle of “one China” threatened, according to Beijing
Tsai Ing-wen’s stops in the United States come at a key moment, as Beijing has increased military, economic and diplomatic pressure on the island.
Currently, Taiwan is only recognized by 13 countries.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen, in power since 2016, undertook the diplomatic tour in Central America to strengthen the island’s diplomatic ties with its allies, a few days after breaking relations with Honduras.
After a first stop in New York on Wednesday, the Taiwanese president visited Guatemala and Belize. These countries thus become the center of a diplomatic tug of war with Beijing.
In the name of its “one China” principle, no country is supposed to maintain official ties with Beijing and Taipei at the same time.
A “usual practice,” says Washington
Washington, which granted Beijing diplomatic recognition in 1979, is the island’s most powerful ally, as well as its main arms supplier.
Last August, a visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, then the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, drew the ire of Beijing.
China responded with massive military maneuvers around the island, an unprecedented show of force.
“We urge the United States not to continue playing with fire on the Taiwan issue… Those who play with fire will burn to death. This is not a threat,” said Xu Xueyuan, charge d’affaires of the Chinese embassy in Washington. .
“China has no reason to overreact to this common practice,” the US diplomatic corps replied last week.
*With AFP; adapted from its original in French
