Washington [US], April 6: U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California, becoming the most senior U.S. figure to meet a Taiwanese leader on U.S. soil in decades and stressed the need to speed up arms deliveries to Taiwan in the face of increasing threats from China.
McCarthy - the third highest ranking official in the U.S. leadership hierarchy - and other Republican and Democratic lawmakers met Tsai at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California despite threats of retaliation from China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own.
A China foreign ministry spokesperson quickly denounced the meeting, accusing the United States of colluding with separatists seeking "Taiwan independence" and saying that it has been breaching its commitments over the island.
Tsai thanked the U.S. Congress for standing by Taiwan when democracy was under threat and said she had cited former U.S. President Reagan in telling McCarthy and other Republican and Democratic lawmakers of her belief that "to preserve peace, we must be strong."
"I would like to add that we are stronger when we are together," she said standing side-by-side with McCarthy.
The meeting came at a time when U.S.-Chinese relations have deteriorated to what some say is their worst level since Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 and rising concern among Western officials that China could attempt to take Taiwan by force in the coming years.
China has vowed to bring Taiwan under its control, by force if necessary, and staged war games around the island last August following a visit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
On Wednesday, Taiwan's defense ministry said a Chinese aircraft carrier group was in the waters off the island's southeast coast ahead of the meeting between Tsai and McCarthy.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation