US House Speaker McCarthy plans to meet Taiwan President in the US: Sources

WASHINGTON - US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy plans to meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in the United States in coming weeks, two sources said on Monday, a move that could replace the Republican Speaker’s anticipated but sensitive trip to the democratically governed island claimed by China.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ms Tsai had been invited to speak at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library during a transit through California on a planned visit to Central America, and that Mr McCarthy was likely to meet her in the US.

One of the sources said that should the US meeting go forward – likely in April – it would not necessarily rule out Mr McCarthy visiting Taiwan in the future.

Mr McCarthy’s office did not respond immediately to Reuters’ questions on the matter, including whether the planned meeting was an effort to avoid raising tensions with China, which was angered by then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last August.

The Financial Times first reported the plans to meet in California.

During a CNBC interview earlier on Monday, Mr McCarthy declined to answer whether he would visit Taiwan, saying he would announce any travel plans when he had them.

Four other sources – including US officials and people with knowledge of the US and Taiwan administrations’ thinking – said both sides were deeply uneasy that a visit by Mr McCarthy would severely increase tensions across the Taiwan Strait at a time when the island is preparing for its own presidential election in early 2024.

Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington, the Reagan Library and China’s Embassy in Washington also did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

China views

engagements between US and Taiwan officials

as a breach of its sovereignty, a slight heightened by the fact that the Speaker of the House is second in line to the US presidency.

But Taiwan presidents including Ms Tsai have a record of travelling through the US en route to other countries, though the US government has generally avoided meeting senior Taiwan officials in Washington.

Mrs Pelosi, a Democrat, visited Taiwan and met Ms Tsai in 2022, defying warnings from China, which launched military drills around the island in response, raising fears that Beijing may carry out its threat to take Taiwan by force if necessary.

Since then, Taiwan has welcomed a wave of US lawmakers, and speculation has swirled around whether Mr McCarthy would travel there in 2023. Mr McCarthy in 2022 expressed interest in visiting Taiwan if he became Speaker, a role he assumed in January after Republicans took control of the House in November’s midterm elections.

Like most countries, the US does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is bound by US law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

Washington has long stuck to a policy of “strategic ambiguity”, meaning it does not make clear whether it would respond militarily to an attack on Taiwan.

However, President Joe Biden said in September that US forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, his most explicit statement on the issue. REUTERS