TAOYUAN, Taiwan/Beijing (Reuters) – External pressure will not stop Taiwan from engaging with the world, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday when she left for the United States, defiant after China threatened retaliation if she met. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy.
China, which claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own province, has repeatedly warned US officials against meeting Tsai, seeing it as support for the island’s desire to be seen as a separate country.
China staged war games around Taiwan last August when then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, and Taiwan’s armed forces said they monitor any Chinese moves when Tsai is abroad.
Tsai is going to Guatemala and Belize, passing through New York first and Los Angeles on the way back. Although not officially confirmed, it is expected that she will meet McCarthy while in California.
“Outside pressure will not hinder our determination to go out into the world,” she said at Taiwan’s main international airport in Taoyuan, a thinly veiled reference to China.
“We are calm and confident, we will not give in and will not be provoked. Taiwan will resolutely walk the path of freedom and democracy and go to the world. Although this road is bumpy, Taiwan is not alone.”
Speaking in Beijing shortly before Tsai’s departure, Zhou Fenglian, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Tsai’s “transit” in the United States was not only to wait for her at the airport or hotel, but to meet with US officials and lawmakers.
“If she makes contact with Speaker McCarthy of the US House of Representatives, 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.
“We firmly oppose it and will definitely take measures to resolutely respond,” Zhu said, without elaborating.
Tsai’s transits will come at a time when US relations with China are at what some analysts consider their worst level since Washington normalized relations with Beijing in 1979 and shifted diplomatic recognition from Taipei.
Taiwan is China’s most sensitive territorial issue and one of the main points of contention with Washington, which, like most countries, only maintains informal relations with Taipei. However, the US government is required by US law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
There is no reason to override
The United States says transits by Taiwanese presidents are routine and that China should not take advantage of Tsai’s trip to take any aggressive steps against Taiwan.
The United States sees no reason for China to overreact to the planned transit operations to the United States this week and next month by the Taiwanese president, senior US officials said before Tsai’s departure.
In her previous transits, a senior US official said, Tsai participated in a range of activities, including meetings with members of Congress, the Taiwanese diaspora, and other groups.
“Therefore, there is absolutely no reason for Beijing to use this upcoming transit as a pretext or pretext to carry out aggressive or coercive activities targeting Taiwan,” the official said.
Taiwanese presidents routinely pass through the United States while visiting diplomatic allies in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, which, while not state visits, are often used by both sides for high-level meetings.
Taiwan’s government rejects China’s claims to sovereignty, and while Tsai has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing, she has also said that only the people of Taiwan can decide their own future.
Tsai’s trip has alarmed security agencies in Taiwan, who fear China could launch a series of influence campaigns including spreading misinformation on social media platforms to sway public perceptions of Tsai’s transit in the United States, according to an internal memo from a Taiwanese security agency, a copy of. seen by Reuters.
The memo said China used large-scale influence campaigns including cyberattacks against Taiwan during Pelosi’s visit last year, and Taiwan authorities expected Beijing to deepen its “knowledge operations” in the coming days.
China declared another diplomatic victory over Taiwan on Sunday when Taiwan’s ally Honduras switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing. Only 13 countries now have official relations with Taiwan.
China says that it and Taiwan belong to “one China” and that the island, as a province of China, has no right to any kind of state-to-state relations. Taiwan strongly opposes this view.
(Reporting by Bernhard Orr and Fabian Hamacher) Additional reporting by Yimo Li in Taipei and David Brunstrom in Washington. Written by Ben Blanchard. Editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Berry
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
“Subtly charming student. Pop culture junkie. Creator. Amateur music specialist. Beer fanatic.”