Representative Mike McCaul, who leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, spoke alongside Taiwan's representative in Washington and lawmakers from both parties at an event in the US Capitol marking 45 years since a landmark law to support Taiwan.
"I'll be leading a delegation to Taiwan to celebrate the president's inauguration," McCaul said of the ceremony set to take place on May 20.
McCaul last visited Taiwan in April 2023 to meet President Tsai Ing-wen. China responded with a show of military force and later imposed sanctions on McCaul, a Republican from Texas.
"The last time I visited Taiwan, I was greeted very warmly by President Tsai but not so warmly by the CCP," McCaul said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
"It's an illustration in terms of the aggression that we're seeing out of China right now," he said.
China claims Taiwan, where the mainland's defeated nationalists fled in 1949. It has since grown into a competitive democracy and leading high-tech economy, although Beijing has not ruled out using force to "reunify" the two.
China has voiced anger at any hints of official independence for Taiwan. It staged a massive show of force in 2022 and cut off areas of cooperation with the United States after a visit by then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who again showed support for Taiwan at Wednesday's event.
US-China relations have stabilized since then, with President Xi Jinping visiting California in November following visits to Beijing by top US officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
China has previously lashed out at President-elect Lai, who is Tsai's vice president and has historically emphasized Taiwan's separate identity.
But US officials were cautiously upbeat about containing tensions over Taiwan's January election, saying that Beijing's actions have not broken any past precedents.
US President Joe Biden sent an "unofficial" delegation of two former senior officials to Taiwan to meet Lai shortly after his election.
- Bipartisan support -
The United States switched recognition in 1979 from Taipei to Beijing. Only 11 countries plus the Vatican still recognize Taiwan.
The US Congress responded to the move in 1979 by passing the Taiwan Relations Act, which requires the United States to provide weapons to Taiwan to defend itself and ensures that Taiwanese representatives in the United States are treated as foreign diplomats in all but name.
Taiwan's de facto ambassador Alexander Tah-Ray Yui, who recently took over after his predecessor Hsiao Bi-khim was elected vice president under Lai, voiced gratitude to the United States over the assurances.
The law provides Taiwan with "security and the political space to create a vibrant democracy and a system that respects human rights, the rule of law and market-based economic principles," Yui said.
Unusually in polarized Washington, Taiwan has enjoyed broad bipartisan support, with Republicans warning of threats from China and Democrats hailing the status of human rights in Taiwan, Asia's frontrunner in LGBTQ equality.
Representative Ted Lieu, a progressive Democrat born in Taiwan, said that there was consensus in Congress "to have Taiwan be able to defend itself."
He urged Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, to allow a vote on a $95 billion package passed in the Senate that would authorize assistance to Taiwan alongside Ukraine and Israel.
Johnson has sought to tie the bill to calls led by Republican presidential contender Donald Trump to take tougher action against migrants seeking to enter the United States.
What we learned from Chinese foreign minister's press briefing
Beijing (AFP) March 7, 2024 -
China's foreign minister gave a rare press conference to foreign media on Thursday, outlining Beijing's positions on major global issues as it holds annual political meetings known as the Two Sessions.
Here is a breakdown of Wang Yi's key points:
- Gaza -
China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Beijing has backed calls at the UN for a ceasefire since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October, with President Xi Jinping saying there must be an "international peace conference" to resolve the fighting.
Wang reiterated his government's demands for an "immediate ceasefire", and called the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza "a tragedy for humankind and a disgrace for civilisation".
"The international community must act urgently, making an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities an overriding priority, and ensuring humanitarian relief an urgent moral responsibility," he said.
- Ukraine -
On Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Wang repeated Beijing's "fair stance" on the conflict while also hailing ties with its ally Moscow.
Many Western nations have blasted Beijing's position, arguing that its refusal to criticise Russia has given Moscow political cover to wage an unprovoked war of aggression.
Wang repeated that China sought peace talks and voiced concerns over escalation, warning that "without the start of peace talks, misunderstandings and misjudgments will build up, leading to a greater crisis".
But he heaped praise on ties with Russia, saying the two sides had created a "new paradigm for great power relations" under the leadership of their respective leaders, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
- Taiwan -
China, which split with Taiwan at the end of a civil war in 1949, considers the island a renegade province with which it must eventually reunify and has never ruled out using force to do so.
Beijing has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years, with tensions rising in recent weeks after two members of a Chinese fishing crew died during a boat chase involving the Taiwanese coast guard.
As the Two Sessions kicked off on Tuesday, the government work report said China would again "resolutely oppose separatist activities aimed at 'Taiwan independence'" in 2024.
Wang on Thursday doubled down on Beijing's tough stance, saying that "anyone on the island of Taiwan who tries to go for Taiwan independence will inevitably be liquidated by history".
- United States -
Wang reserved harsh words for China's relations with the United States, hitting out at what he called Washington's attempts to "suppress" Beijing.
Ties between the world's two largest economies have come under strain in recent years amid disputes over trade, technology, human rights and other issues.
Wang said Washington's "desire to heap blame under any pretext has reached an unbelievable level" and criticised its "misunderstanding of China".
"The methods used to suppress China are constantly being renewed, and the list of unilateral sanctions is constantly being extended," Wang added.
"If the United States always says one thing and does another, how can it maintain its credibility as a major country?"
- European Union -
Wang struck a more conciliatory tone towards the European Union, a major trading partner in the throes of its own debate over trade ties with China.
He said there was "no conflict of interest" between Beijing and Brussels, but criticised the bloc's depiction of China as a partner but also a competitor and institutional rival.
"Facts have proven that this triple positioning is not factual or feasible, but it has brought unnecessary interference and obstacles to the development of China-EU relations," Wang said.
Somewhat aptly, he compared the policy to "a car driving towards an intersection, only to find the red, green and yellow lights on at the same time".
Electric vehicles are at the centre of a growing dispute between Beijing and the EU, with the bloc probing the impact of Chinese EV subsidies on European carmakers.
Beijing has launched its own enquiries into EU products including brandy but has denied the investigations are retaliatory.
- South China Sea -
Beijing's increasingly frequent confrontations in the disputed South China Sea, especially with the Philippines, have raised concerns that hostilities will escalate in the region.
Chinese coast guard boats were accused on Tuesday of causing two collisions with Philippine ships on a resupply mission and firing water cannon at one of them, with Beijing in turn saying Manila was acting as Washington's pawn.
"We will legitimately defend our rights in accordance with the law," Wang said, warning that "we do not allow our goodwill to be abused".
Related Links
Taiwan News at SinoDaily.com
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
