McCarthy Confirms Plan to Meet With Taiwan’s President in US

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks to reporters outside of his office in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, on March 07, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed on March 7 that he'll meet with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in the United States next month, adding that the meeting wouldn’t replace his anticipated trip to the democratically governed island.

“That has nothing to do with my travel and if I would go to Taiwan,” the California Republican told reporters, adding that “China can’t tell me where or when to go.”

The Chinese Communist Party has long claimed Taiwan as its territory and has never disavowed using force to take it over. That ambition has been increasingly on display in recent years as the regime steps up military harassment, sending warplanes and ships toward the island on a near-daily basis, which experts have termed as a “gray zone” tactic aimed at eroding public morale and exhausting Taiwan’s defensive resources.

Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng warned on March 6 that Taiwan this year has to be on the alert for a “sudden entry” by the Chinese military into areas close to its territorial space, which the island defines as 12 nautical miles from its coast.

Chiu Kuo-cheng, Taiwan's defense minister, at a news conference in Taipei, Taiwan, on Aug. 2, 2019. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)

“I think they are making preparations,” Chiu said. “Looking forward, they would use force if they really have to.”

The rising threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is causing concern in Washington. The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has approved several measures to deter a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait, and after the island reported a second day of large-scale Chinese aerial incursions near the area in early March, the State Department also authorized a potential sale of $619 million in new weapons to Taiwan.

Beijing has lodged a formal complaint with Washington over McCarthy’s upcoming meeting with Tsai, according to Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, who called the “Taiwan question” the “core of the core interests of China” and maintained that it would oppose any form of official interaction between the United States and the island.

But neither McCarthy nor Taiwan’s officials appear likely to be swayed by the narratives. McCarthy has indicated that he still hopes to visit Taiwan as a speaker, alongside a bipartisan delegation of lawmakers.

“I don’t think China can tell me where to go, at any time, at any place,” McCarthy, who has garnered Republican support for a Taiwan trip, said in response to a question from The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet NTD in February.

Taiwan's armed forces hold two days of routine drills to show combat readiness ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays at a military base in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on Jan. 12, 2023. (Annabelle Chih/Getty Images)

On March 7, Taiwan’s defense minister responded to Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang’s claim that Taiwan is the “first red line” in Sino–U.S. relations.

“The Chinese communists use any reason to send troops,” Chiu told Parliament. “But we won’t just say ‘bring it on.’ We will take a peaceful and rational approach.

“If the Chinese communists move again, the armed forces’ job is to fight,” he said. “We won’t allow repeated provocations against us. We can’t accept that.”

Asked on March 7 how China might react to McCarthy’s plans, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the department respects the decisions of any member of Congress.

“Our broader concern,” he told reporters, “is that the PRC has consistently sought to undermine the prevailing status quo, the status quo that has upheld decades of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”