In a highly sensitive US visit, Taiwan's president delivered the message on Thursday that keeping her self-ruled island strong will help ensure the world's safety even as her travel is carefully calibrated to try to contain what furious Chinese officials warn could be a strong response. Taiwan is billing President Tsai Ing-wen's visit to New York as simply a 바카라transit," but she kept a full agenda of events Wednesday and Thursday before flying to Central America. Most provocatively in the eyes of Beijing, her trip is expected to include a meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy next week. In a sign of the sensitivity of her visit, little about Tsai's full itinerary has been made public, and her events Thursday were closed to the news media.
The visit while important for Taiwan in demonstrating its overseas support 바카라 is fraught for both Taiwan and the US because China views Taiwan as its territory and treats any dealings between US and Taiwanese officials as a challenge to its sovereignty. Even with the precautions, Tsai's trip, including any meetings with US lawmakers, raises tensions at a time when both China and the US and its allies are boosting their military preparedness for a possible confrontation in the Indo-Pacific. China's often-stated determination to take Taiwan, by force if necessary, stands as one of the region's main flashpoints. Chinese officials are focusing, angrily, on the expected meeting next week between Tsai and McCarthy. It would be one of the highest-level in-person meetings between US and Taiwanese officials on US soil.
Tsai emphasized Taiwan's perseverance in the face of daunting challenges in a closed-door speech Thursday night hosted by the Hudson Institute think tank, which awarded her its leadership award. She said the Taiwanese public remains unswerving in its commitment to democracy, and that Taiwan is the responsible, calm side in contrast to China, which is raising tensions in cross-strait relations, according to Taiwan's official Central News Agency. "She made a strong point that the defense of Taiwan is actually the defense of America,바카라 said Miles Yu, a Hudson Institute director who attended the speech. A few dozen pro-China demonstrators 바카라 holding signs declaring 바카라One China바카라 and 바카라Taiwan is an inalienable part of China바카라 바카라 gathered behind police barricades outside the hotel where Tsai spoke.
The United States' longstanding 바카라one-China바카라 policy acknowledges that the Chinese claim Taiwan as their territory. However, the US does not endorse that claim and remains Taiwan's most important provider of military hardware and other defense assistance. On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning restated China's serious objections to any interactions between Tsai and US leaders. 바카라China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and Taiwan,바카라 Mao told reporters in Beijing. 바카라China will continue to closely follow the situation and resolutely safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity.바카라 A senior Chinese diplomat in Washington, embassy charge d'affaires Xu Xueyuan, pointed to the anticipated meeting between Tsai and the US House speaker as one that would have significant repercussions overall and a 바카라serious, serious, serious바카라 impact on US-China relations.
Neither Taiwan nor McCarthy, a California Republican, has publicly confirmed any in-person get-together. Analysts have framed a session between the two outside Washington as possibly less provocative than a trip by McCarthy to Taiwan, which he has said he also intends to make Beijing responded to a visit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last August by launching missiles, deploying warships across the median line of the Taiwan Strait and simulating a blockade of the island. China also temporarily suspended dialogue with the US on climate and other major issues and restricted military-to-military communication with the Pentagon. The United States broke off official ties with Taiwan in 1979, when it formally established diplomatic relations with China. US law requires Washington to treat all threats to the island as matters of 바카라grave concern바카라 but does not explicitly say whether the US would commit troops.
Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he hoped any US officials meeting unofficially with the Taiwanese president emphasize that American support for Taiwan is "strong and unequivocal.바카라 Tsai has made six previous trips through the US during her presidency, meeting with members of Congress and members of the Taiwanese diaspora. Administration officials are underscoring that her trip is in line with what she and her predecessors have done in the past. Tsai's "transit is consistent with our longstanding unofficial relationship with Taiwan and is consistent with the United States' one-China policy, which remains unchanged,바카라 White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
바카라The People's Republic of China should not use this transit as a pretext to step up any aggressive activity around the Taiwan Strait," Kirby said. 바카라The United States and China have differences when it comes to Taiwan. But we have managed those differences for more than 40 years.바카라 Tsai told reporters before boarding her plane to the United States that 바카라external pressure will not obstruct our resolution to engage with the world." Tsai was expected to meet with the American Institute in Taiwan chair, Laura Rosenberger. AIT is the US government-run nonprofit that carries out unofficial relations with Taiwan. Tsai's stops in Central America are expected to shore up Taiwan's partnerships there, after Honduras this month switched its diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China. Tsai accused China of using 바카라dollar diplomacy바카라 to lure away Honduras. Worldwide, just 13 countries now officially recognize Taiwan.
Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said the visit is a chance for Tsai 바카라to convey to the Congress how important the partnership between the US and Taiwan is and what's necessary to preserve peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.바카라 Tensions between Washington and Beijing have grown as China under President Xi Jinping seeks to expand its regional and global influence. Passage of what the US said was a Chinese spy balloon across the US this winter heightened Americans' sense of challenge from China. China says it was a research balloon that was blown off course.
