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The United States defies China by visiting the President of Taiwan


China announced Thursday that it will take “firm response” To defend the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of his country, a few hours after the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wenHe was received in California by Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

For weeks, Xi Jinping’s government has warned the United States not to hold the meeting, which it views as a provocation and interference in its internal affairs. China considers Taiwan, an island with democratic government, which it has ruled independently of the communist regime on the mainland for more than seven decades, as part of its sovereignty; The United States does not officially recognize Taiwan As a country since the late 1970s, when it adhered to the “One China” policy, it maintains strong trade relations and provides military support to its government.

It is not an official visit

“Our relationship is stronger than at any other time in my life,” McCarthy said at a joint appearance with Tsai at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, the Republican’s home state. The Taiwanese president’s trip was not sold as an official visit, but as a stop on her return trip to Taiwan after passing through Guatemala and Belize.

Tsai thanked the presence of McCarthy and other lawmakers – Republicans and Democrats – at the meeting: “It gives us assurance to the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated and that we are not alone.”

The meeting is taking place in the context of the growing rivalry between the United States and China, in the midst of a greater rapprochement between the Xi government and Vladimir Putin’s Russia and after recent episodes of tension such as the dropping of a Chinese spy balloon in the province. we.

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meet in the summer

The closest precedent to a meeting between McCarthy and Tsai was last summer, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s predecessor visited Taiwan, on the most important official US trip to the island in decades.

Then China responded with a show of force and aggression: It staged the largest military exercises in its history near Taiwan.

Yesterday there was no similar response yet, but some movements. China has deployed three warships to the Taiwan Strait and increased the use of its coast guard in those waters.

The White House, which was not involved in the meeting between Tsai and McCarthy, warned China that it could not use the visit as an “excuse” to pressure and attack Taiwan.

The visit to California wasn’t the only connection of the week. Yesterday, a delegation of US bipartisan representatives arrived in Taiwan, led by Republican Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“Being here sends a signal to the Chinese Communist Party that the United States supports Taiwan and that we are going to strengthen Taiwan, and we want them to think twice about invading it,” he said.

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