US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy will meet with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen in California instead of Taipei in order to avoid further tensions with Beijing, The Financial Times reported on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2023) US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy will meet with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen in California instead of Taipei in order to avoid further tensions with Beijing, The Financial Times reported on Monday.
McCarthy had said last summer that he intended to visit Taiwan if he was elected speaker, but Tsai convinced the California senator to meet in the United States instead to avoid a round of forceful demonstrations by the People's Liberation Army, which Nancy Pelosi spurred on when she visited Taiwan in August, said the report.
While in California, Tsai will speak at the Reagan library for the second time since 2018, and also plans to visit New York, the report added.
Before Pelosi's visit last fall, Newt Gingrich was the last Speaker to visit the country in 1997. His visit sparked massive exercises by the China's military that included firing missiles over Taiwan.
Last week, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin in a letter to all Defense Department personnel vowed that the US would provide Taiwan with self-defense capabilities as the threat from China evolves.
The US defense budget authorizes $2 billion in annual military assistance to Taiwan. However, Taiwan has expressed frustration over the delay in arms deliveries and an alleged backlog of almost $20 billion, much of which may not arrive for years, according to The Washington Post.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province and opposes any official contacts by foreign states with Taipei as well as considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.
