Pentagon planning for Taiwan visit by US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, report says

Name: Taiwan air force holds annual drill ahead of Lunar New Year holiday amid rising pressure from PLA
Uploaded: 2023-01-23T21:34:41.000Z
Duration: 3 min 8 s
Description: Taiwan air force holds annual drill ahead of Lunar New Year holiday amid rising pressure from PLA

Pentagon planning for McCarthy’s visit in ‘early stages’, while US President Joe Biden’s officials expect spring visit, Punchbowl News reports

Beijing likely to understand that McCarthy’s opposition party status differentiates the situation from Nancy Pelosi’s visit last year, analysts say

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Newly elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy holds the gavel at the US Capitol in Washington on on January 7. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS

Bochen Han

Published: 5:34am, 24 Jan 2023Updated: 6:13am, 24 Jan 2023

The US Defence Department is preparing for House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Taiwan later this year, Punchbowl News reported on Monday, citing an official directly involved.

Punchbowl also said that planning for the trip is in “early stages”, and that officials in US President Joe Biden’s administration expect McCarthy to visit sometime in the spring.

House Republicans under McCarthy’s leadership have made countering Beijing a priority, with a select committee on US-China competition established this month as one of the first legislative acts of the new Congress. Taiwan’s defence has been a key agenda item for Republican congressman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, McCarthy’s pick to lead the committee.

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Taiwan air force holds annual drill ahead of Lunar New Year holiday amid rising pressure from PLA

McCarthy, who represents a California district north of Los Angeles, had said he would “love” to visit Taiwan if he were elected speaker, days ahead of then-speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to the self-ruled island in August last year.

Beijing reacted to Pelosi’s August 2 visit with a near complete blockade of Taiwan, followed by live-fire military drills around the island that were unprecedented in scope.

The government also cut off a range of communication channels with the US, including on climate change and military exchanges – moves the White House labelled as an “overreaction”.

The speaker of the house is second in the presidential line of succession, after the vice-president, according to the US Constitution. The last speaker to visit Taiwan before Pelosi was Newt Gingrich, a Republican, in 1997, during the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton.

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