Taiwan’s president invoked the Cold War-era legacy of President Reagan during her highly anticipated meeting Wednesday with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, warning that “democracy is under threat” and underscoring the need to keep “the beacon of freedom shining.”
While Tsai Ing-wen made the remarks, leaders of China’s ruling Communist Party were bristling at the increasingly warm relations between the U.S. and Taiwan, an independently governed island democracy that Beijing considers a breakaway province. As with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taipei last summer, Beijing said the high-level contact with Mr. McCarthy is a violation of the long-standing “One China” policy.
In one recognition of the sensitivity of the event, Mr. McCarthy reportedly scrubbed his plan to hold the meeting in Taiwan. He said Wednesday that he had no “current plans” to visit the island.
Still, Chinese military forces increased aerial and warship activity.
Mr. McCarthy greeted the Taiwanese president at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in his home state of California. They talked in the Southern Californian sunshine.
“The friendship between the people of Taiwan and America is a matter of profound importance to the free world,” Mr. McCarthy said after a roughly two-hour meeting with Ms. Tsai and a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers inside the library. Taiwanese news reports said nearly 20 American lawmakers participated in at least part of the discussions.
SEE ALSO: China steps up incursions near Taiwan prior to Tsai-McCarthy meeting
“Taiwan is a successful democracy, thriving economy, and a global leader in health and science,” he said. “Whether it’s our deep commercial ties, strong people-to-people relationships, our shared values, our cooperation with the people of Taiwan continues to expand through dialogue and exchange.”
“We’re stronger when we are together,” Ms. Tsai said. “Taiwan is grateful to have the United States of America [by] our side.”
She invoked Reagan, who built up U.S. defenses and bolstered Western resolve in the confrontation with the Soviet Union in the final chapter of the Cold War.
“We once again find ourselves in a world where democracy is under threat and the urgency of keeping the beacon of freedom shining cannot be understated,” Ms. Tsai said. “President Reagan said the best freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.”
Ms. Tsai, whose party appears to be leaning toward independence from China, is finishing a second four-year term in office. National elections next year could have major implications for cross-strait relations.
Although their post-meeting joint remarks did not mention China, Mr. McCarthy made no apologies for the meeting in a later interview. He said he supported continued arms sales to the island and deepening trade and technology links with Taipei.
SEE ALSO: Taiwan raises doubts about own defense; U.S. at center of collision course
“What China needs to understand is that they can’t dictate who a speaker of the House meets with, whether it’s a foe or a friend,” he told Bloomberg News.
A small group of Taiwanese supporters waved signs in the parking lot of the Reagan Library complex before the meeting, the Reuters news agency reported, and a small plane overhead towed a pro-Beijing banner proclaiming “Taiwan is part of China!”
Bracing for a reaction
U.S. military officials are bracing for retaliation from China in light of its reaction to Mrs. Pelosi’s trip, the highest-level visit by a U.S. representative to Taiwan in a quarter century. Beijing responded with a dramatic increase in military drills around the island democracy and suspended diplomatic communications with the U.S. on various topics.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Beijing would “resolutely and vigorously defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity” in light of Ms. Tsai’s U.S. stop, and the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles denounced the visit as “a grave violation of the One China principle.”
The Biden administration has tried to downplay the significance of Ms. Tsai’s “transit” through the U.S. by saying there was nothing new or provocative. Still, Chinese officials have pledged a sharp but unspecified response.
Taiwanese officials said the increased Chinese military aerial and warship activity featured 20 aircraft and three ships of the People’s Liberation Army in areas around the island democracy. In response, Taiwanese forces dispatched interceptor jets and navy vessels, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said in a tweet.
Nine Chinese aircraft crossed the median line separating China and Taiwan on the 100-mile Taiwan Strait. It remained to be seen whether China would escalate the provocations.
“China shouldn’t use this visit as a pretext in any way to increase any aggressive activity around the Taiwan Strait,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters Wednesday afternoon in Washington.
She said Ms. Tsai’s visit with American lawmakers was “routine” and that the Taiwanese president’s stop in the United States in no way violates the United States’ “one-China policy” because the transit does not constitute an official state visit. Ms. Tsai visited New York last week and met quietly with several senators before traveling to Latin America and returning home via the stop in California.
“We don’t see this as increasing or adding to any tension with our relationship with China,” Ms. Singh said. “We don’t see any reason for China to overreact or to take this transit as a pretext for any aggression.”
The issue of Taiwan’s status has become more vexing for Washington since 2019, when the government of Chinese President Xi Jinping began saying it was determined to bring the island under its control eventually, by force if necessary.
“There is but one China in the world,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said after Mrs. Pelosi’s August visit to Taiwan. “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory.”
A subsequent spike in Chinese military exercises near Taiwan sparked debate within the Biden administration about the long-held U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” of what exactly the U.S. military would do to protect the island democracy from an invasion.
President Biden has said publicly that U.S. forces would defend Taiwan in the event of an attack from mainland China.
At the same time, however, administration officials have said the United States remains committed to the “One China” policy. Washington has long acknowledged Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of China even though the U.S. maintains informal diplomatic relations and substantial defense ties with Taipei and does not technically recognize Chinese sovereignty over the island.
Taiwan and the U.S. have close economic ties. American companies rely heavily on Taiwan, the world’s leading manufacturer of semiconductor chips, which are vital to the production of smartphones, laptop computers, refrigerators and other everyday goods. The U.S. defense industry also relies on the chips.
Tensions are high amid fears that Beijing will invade Taiwan in an attempt to bring it under mainland control.
Sen. Mark Kelly, Arizona Democrat, and Republican Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Dan Sullivan of Alaska confirmed Wednesday that they had met with Ms. Tsai during her layover on Friday in New York. They also released a group photo.
“It’s important when a leader of this important island democracy travels to the United States that dictators in Beijing are not allowed to dictate who Americans can meet with, especially on American soil,” Mr. Sullivan said.
Ms. Tsai traveled to the Western Hemisphere less than two weeks after Honduras ended its recognition of Taiwan and announced formal diplomatic relations with China. Honduras’ move sparked outrage among Taiwanese leaders, who said the Central American nation had demanded “billions of dollars” to continue backing the island democracy on the international stage.
The development delivered a key symbolic victory to China, which is expanding its sphere of influence in the Western Hemisphere while international support for Taiwan shrinks. Just 13 nations now recognize the island democracy’s autonomy from China.
Beijing has reportedly promised major aid packages to several countries in exchange for commitments to abandon relations with Taiwan.
• Bill Gertz and Ben Wolfgang contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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