McCaul considers the Kuomintang party pro-Beijing
9 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Republican Michael McCaul, warned this Sunday that China could conquer Taiwan “without a single shot” thanks to its influence through the victory of the Kuomintang or Chinese Nationalist Party (PNC), considered akin to Beijing, in the Taiwanese presidential elections scheduled for January 13, 2024.
“There is a political debate here with two different parties. One party wants to talk to China (the Kuomintang). President Tsai Ing Wen’s party (the Democratic Progressive Party, DPP) does not want to be part of China,” McCaul said in an interview with NBC television in response to a question about whether the people of Taiwan want a military confrontation.
“I think that the next elections, in January, are going to be of enormous importance because I think that since former President Ma (Ying Jeou, of the Kuomintang) is in China right now, China is going to try to influence these elections and conquer the island and without firing a single shot”, he added.
McCaul is taking part in a tour of Taiwan, South Korea and Japan that began after the meeting in California between the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, also a Republican, and President Tsai in Taiwan, which has been the subject of protests from Beijing. .
McCaul himself met with Tsai this Sunday and stressed that what happened in Hong Kong and the Russian invasion of Ukraine “has opened the eyes” of the people of Taiwan and for this reason they are “very nervous.”
Thus, McCaul has stressed that Taiwan’s military capacity “is not where it needs to be” for the response to a possible Chinese invasion. “It’s not where they need it to be. If we’re going to have a peace by deterrence, we need the weapons to reach Taiwan,” he explained, referring to the US arms supply agreed between the two parties in December.
The Kuomintang has been in favor of closer ties with China, although it usually rejects being favorable to Beijing. The party has stressed that there is a need to “try to reduce the tension in the Strait to promote the interests of the population and that the parties can start a new era in a friendly way.”
The Kuomintang is the same party that controlled the Chinese government headed by Chiang Kai Shek, who was defeated in the Maoist revolution that culminated in the seizure of power in 1949. Then the pro-Western government took refuge on the island of Taiwan, whose official name is the Republic. of China as opposed to the People’s Republic of China with its capital in Beijing.
Beijing considers Taiwan a rogue province and in fact only twelve countries in the world formally and diplomatically recognize Taiwan. However, the United States and its allies maintain informal relations and support the de facto independence of the territory with weapons.
