A meeting between President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan and Speaker of the House of Representatives McCarthy of the United States began on the 5th in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the western United States, where President Tsai visited as a stopover. It will be the first time for a Taiwanese president to meet with his most important position, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in the United States.
Speaker of the House of Representatives McCarthy has publicly stated before the midterm elections last fall that he would visit Taiwan if he took office.
However, several congressional sources say that the reason for meeting outside of Los Angeles, California, rather than visiting Taiwan, is that it is currently in the best interests of both the United States and Taiwan to do so.
The decision was greatly influenced by the visit to Taiwan by Democratic Party Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August of last year.
It is said that there was almost no prior coordination with the Biden administration, and while it was able to appeal its strong ties with Taiwan, it caused a fierce backlash from China, and it became normal for Chinese military aircraft to fly over the median line with Taiwan. , because there is a deep-seated critical view in Washington that allowed the “status quo” to be changed.
For this reason, in order to give China as few excuses as possible to try to change the status quo, and at the same time to demonstrate strong support for Taiwan both at home and abroad, the president of Taiwan should “stop” in California, the home state of Chairman McCarthy. It seems that it has come to the conclusion that it is best to meet in person.
The U.S. Congress has stepped up its hardline stance against China, recognizing that the risk of a Taiwanese emergency, in which China uses military force to unify Taiwan, is increasing.
While some may criticize the Speaker of the House of Representatives as being “weak” in holding talks in the United States rather than visiting Taiwan, Congress has not raised such voices this time.
Rather, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, centered on the members of the House of Representatives Special Committee on China, who are strongly supported by Speaker McCarthy, will attend the meeting, and the US Congress will use it as an opportunity to demonstrate its strong support for Taiwan. .
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