Taiwan not expecting Beijing to react on same scale as last year’s Nancy Pelosi visit if President Tsai Ing-wen meets US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy

Mainland China has threatened to ‘resolutely hit back’ if a planned meeting between Tsai and McCarthy goes ahead in California
But the island’s security chief Tsai Ming-yen says he does not expect a response comparable to last year’s war games after the previous speaker visited Taipei

Taiwan

Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Published: 7:30pm, 30 Mar 2023

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Beijing is not expected to react to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s stop in the United States on the same scale as last year’s unprecedented war games, the island’s security chief has said.

Tsai landed in New York on Wednesday US time. She is expected to stay two nights before heading to Guatemala on Saturday as part of a trip that will also see her visit Belize, another Central American ally.

Beijing has repeatedly warned her against meeting US leaders while in America and said it would “resolutely hit back” if a planned meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy went ahead.

It has also accused Washington of colluding with Tsai to promote the cause of independence and said any meeting would be yet another “serious confrontation” between the US and China.

But Tsai Ming-yen, head of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, said that although he did not doubt Beijing would intensify its military operations around Taiwan, it would not respond on the scale it did when McCarthy’s predecessor visited the island last August.

“The situation this time is not as complicated as the time when the former speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last year,” he told a meeting of the legislature on Thursday.

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Beijing staged 10 days of unprecedented live-fire drills encircling the island and fired ballistic missiles over Taiwan in retaliation for Pelosi’s visit, which it saw as a violation of its sovereignty.

Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory and has never ruled out the use of force to regain control. It has repeatedly warned the Tsai government against using Washington to seek independence and told the US to refrain from official contact with the island.

Most countries, including the US, do not formally recognise Taiwan as an independent state but oppose any attempt to change the status quo by force.

The island’s security boss said it was the common interest of the US, Taiwan and mainland China to “prevent unintended incidents” from happening, and for this, the three sides “have been in close contact and communications” to avoid “unnecessary crises”.

02:29

Taiwan confirms President Tsai Ing-wen will make US stopovers in coming weeks

He also said Taiwanese authorities were closely monitoring all military and related movements by Beijing and were briefing the island’s leader about the latest situation.

President Tsai is due to stop over in Los Angeles for two nights starting on April 4 on her way back from Belize before returning to Taipei on April 7.

The Financial Times has reported that her meeting with McCarthy will take place in California, and the speaker said earlier this month that he would meet Tsai in the US rather than Taipei.

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In New York, Tsai met New Jersey governor Phil Murphy at a banquet hosted by Taiwanese groups, according to Xavier Chang, deputy secretary general of Taiwan’s Presidential Office.

She told the banquet that there had been obvious progress in US-Taiwan relations in areas such as security and trade in recent years and thanked Washington for deepening its partnership with the island.

She said the island would continue to cooperate with all democratic and like-minded countries in promoting democracy, freedom and regional peace, according to Chang.

02:23

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Tsai was expected to address an event hosted by the Hudson Institute on Thursday US time and receive a “global leadership award” from the think tank, according to the Financial Times.