Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy wields the speaker’s gavel as members of Congress gather to attend U.S. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Feb. 7, 2023.
Leah Millis | Reuters
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy plans to fulfill Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen within the U.S. in coming weeks, two sources told Reuters on Monday, a move that might replace the Republican Speaker’s anticipated but sensitive trip to the democratically governed island claimed by China.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tsai had been invited to talk on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library during a transit through California on a planned visit to Central America, and that McCarthy was more likely to meet her in the USA.
Certainly one of the sources said should the U.S. meeting go forward — likely in April — it didn’t necessarily rule out McCarthy visiting Taiwan in the long run.
McCarthy’s office didn’t respond immediately to Reuters’ questions on the matter, including whether the planned meeting was an effort to avoid raising tensions with China, which was angered by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August.
The Financial Times first reported the plans to fulfill in California.
During a CNBC interview earlier on Monday, McCarthy declined to reply whether he would visit Taiwan, saying he would announce any travel plans when he had them.
4 other sources — including U.S. officials and other people with knowledge of the U.S. and Taiwan administrations’ considering — said either side were deeply uneasy that a future visit by McCarthy would severely increase tensions across the Taiwan Strait at a time when the island is preparing for its own presidential election early next 12 months.
The Reagan Library and China’s Embassy in Washington didn’t respond immediately to requests for comment.
Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington said it had “no information to share” when asked concerning the meeting.
“Usually terms, arrangements for President Tsai’s visits to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies and transits through the USA are carried out consistent with the same old practice,” it told Reuters.
China views engagements between U.S. and Taiwanese officials as a breach of its sovereignty, a perceived slight sharpened by the proven fact that the Speaker of the Home is second in line to the U.S. presidency.
But Taiwanese presidents, including Tsai, have a record of traveling through the U.S. en path to other countries, though the U.S. government has generally avoided meeting with senior Taiwanese officials in Washington.
Pelosi, a Democrat, visited Taiwan and met Tsai last 12 months, defying warnings from China, which launched military drills across the island in response, raising fears that Beijing may perform its threat to take Taiwan by force if crucial.
Since then, Taiwan has welcomed a wave of U.S. lawmakers, and speculation has swirled around whether McCarthy would travel there this 12 months. McCarthy last 12 months expressed interest in visiting Taiwan if he became speaker, a job he assumed in January after Republicans took control of the House in November’s midterm elections.
Like most countries, the U.S. doesn’t have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is sure by U.S. law to offer the island with the means to defend itself.
Washington has long stuck to a policy of “strategic ambiguity,” meaning it doesn’t clarify whether it will respond militarily to an attack on Taiwan. Nevertheless, President Joe Biden said in September that U.S. forces would defend Taiwan within the event of a Chinese invasion, his most explicit statement on the difficulty.
