Pelosi Praises McCarthy Meeting With Taiwan President

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has extended her support to her successor Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) historic meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in California.

Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, McCarthy welcomed Tsai, referred to her as a “great friend of America.” The meeting was attended by more than a dozen members of both parties and marked the first high-level visit of its kind on American soil.

The meeting risked further tensions with China, which had previously warned of retaliation should Tsai and McCarthy meet or other U.S. senior figures. However, McCarthy affirmed his efforts to speed up arms deliveries to Taiwan in the face of increasing aggression from Beijing and boost economic cooperation with the self-ruled island, particularly in the realms of trade and technology.

Pelosi, who had a strained relationship with McCarthy when she was Speaker and he was the minority leader, lauded her successor’s leadership after the meeting. “Today’s meeting between President Tsai of Taiwan and Speaker McCarthy is to be commended for its leadership, its bipartisan participation, and its distinguished and historic venue,” Pelosi said in a brief statement.

Despite warnings from China, which views Taiwan as part of its territory, Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.

China Views Meeting as Threat

China condemned this week’s meeting and began staging military drills around Taiwan, launching missiles and conducting extensive military patrols.The country also suspended planned climate talks with the United States and restricted military-to-military communication with the Pentagon. Pelosi’s visit further strained the already tense relationship between the two countries, following the downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the United States.

In a statement released on Thursday, China’s foreign ministry condemned the meeting calling it an “erroneous act of collusion” and a “disregard of China’s serious representations and repeated warnings.” The statement further added that “Other US officials and lawmakers also had contact with Tsai and provided the platform for her separatist rhetoric for ‘Taiwan independence.’ This is essentially the United States acting with Taiwan to connive at ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists’ political activities in the United States, conduct official contact with Taiwan and upgrade the substantive relations with Taiwan, and frame it as a ‘transit’.”

“This is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiqués. It seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and sends an egregiously wrong signal to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns it,” the statement read.

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