Taiwan leader takes US trip, China threatens retaliation

Washington insists Beijing has no reason to justify aggressive moves due to Tsai’s transit

TAOYUAN, TAIWAN/BEIJING—External pressure will not stop Taiwan engaging with the world, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday as she left for the United States, hitting a defiant note after China threatened retaliation if she met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Tsai is going to Guatemala and Belize, transiting through New York first and Los Angeles on the way back. While not officially confirmed, she is expected to meet McCarthy while in California.

“External pressure will not hinder our determination to go to the world,” she said at Taiwan’s main international airport at Taoyuan, in a veiled reference to China.

“We are calm and confident, will neither yield nor provoke. Taiwan will firmly walk on the road of freedom and democracy and go into the world. Although this road is rough, Taiwan is not alone.”

Speaking in Beijing shortly before Tsai left, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Tsai’s “transits” of the United States were not just her waiting at the airport or hotel, but for her to meet US officials and lawmakers.

“If she has contact with US House Speaker McCarthy, it will be another provocation that seriously violates the One-China principle, harms China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and destroys peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” she said.

Oppose, fight back

“We firmly oppose this and will definitely take measures to resolutely fight back,” Zhu added, without giving details.

Tsai’s transits will come at a time when US relations with China are at what some analysts see as their worst level since Washington normalized ties with Beijing in 1979 and switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei.

Taiwan is China’s most sensitive territorial issue and a major bone of contention with Washington, which, like most countries, maintains only unofficial ties with Taipei. However, the United States government is required by US law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

China, which claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly warned US officials not to meet Tsai, viewing it as support for the island’s desire to be seen as a separate country.

Pelosi visit

China staged war games around Taiwan last August when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, and Taiwan’s armed forces have said they are keeping watch for any Chinese moves when Tsai is abroad.

The United States says such transits by Taiwanese presidents are routine and that China should not use Tsai’s trip to take any aggressive moves against Taiwan.

The United States sees no reason for China to overreact to planned transits of the United States this week and next month by Taiwan’s president, senior US officials said ahead of Tsai’s departure.

A senior US official said that in her previous transits Tsai had engaged in a range of activities, including meetings with members of Congress, the Taiwanese diaspora and other groups.

“So there’s absolutely no reason for Beijing to use this upcoming transit as an excuse or a pretext to carry out aggressive or coercive activities aimed at Taiwan,” the official said.