Taiwan president meets with McCarthy, inflaming local divide

As a extremely anticipated assembly passed off between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Yingli Son shouted right into a microphone.

“Taiwan is China’s territory! Taiwan is a part of China!” she declared in Mandarin exterior the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, clutching a Chinese language flag and a U.S. flag.

Elsewhere among the many a whole lot who had gathered to assist Tsai or protest her, drummers pounded and other people chanted, “Jiayou, Taiwan!” — Go, Taiwan.

Tsai’s assembly with McCarthy and different Congress members on Wednesday has drawn condemnation and threats of retaliation from Chinese language officers who, like Son, consider that Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, is a breakaway area that rightfully belongs to Beijing.

Amongst native immigrants, the assembly has intensified passions throughout an intractable ideological divide, as U.S.-China relations have deteriorated and China’s risk to take Taiwan by power if mandatory appears more and more actual.

“I’ve a message to ship to the world — America’s authorities should assist China,” mentioned Son, 62, a paralegal who lives in Koreatown and was born in Shenyang, China, earlier than associates whisked her away to proceed her speechifying at one other spot.

Linda and Dennis Luc, who’re immigrants from Taiwan, took a time without work from work to come back to the library and assist Tsai.

The Lucs, members of the Taiwanese Assn. of Northwest Los Angeles, every waved a selfmade signal with a big pink coronary heart and the phrases, “Taiwan Go! Go! Go!”

Tsai Ing-wen supporter Lijian Jie on the Westin Bonaventure Resort on Tuesday.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Occasions)

“I’m very blissful she will go anyplace she desires. No one can dictate to her. This can be a freedom nation, and we hope for that very same freedom for Taiwan,” mentioned Dennis Luc, 63, who works in electronics meeting.

In a brief speech after his hourlong assembly with Tsai, McCarthy invoked President Reagan and “his perception in democracy and dedication to the concept of peace and freedom.”

“These values have at all times served because the bedrock of our friendship with the individuals of Taiwan,” he mentioned. “And they’re extra necessary now than ever earlier than. I consider our bond is stronger now than any time or level in my life.”

He mentioned the U.S. will honor its obligation to Taiwan, which he didn’t explicitly outline, and famous that the assembly, which included 12 Republicans and 6 Democrats, was bipartisan.

“The friendship between the individuals of Taiwan and America is a matter of profound significance to the free world, and it’s important to take care of … freedom, peace and regional stability,” mentioned McCarthy, a Republican from Bakersfield.

Tsai echoed McCarthy in noting that the long-standing relationship between Taiwan and the U.S. is important.

“The unwavering assist reassured the individuals of Taiwan that we’re not remoted,” she mentioned. “We aren’t alone.”

She additionally cited Reagan, who mentioned that freedom isn’t a couple of era away from extinction.

Taiwan supporters wave flags, sing and yell as they look ahead to President Tsai Ing-wen to reach on the Westin Bonaventure Resort on Tuesday.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Occasions)

“It’s no secret that right this moment, the peace that we’ve got maintained and the democracy which we’ve got labored onerous [to build] … are going through unprecedented challenges,” Tsai mentioned. “We as soon as once more discover ourselves in a world the place democracy is underneath risk, and the urgency for holding the beacon of freedom shining can’t be understated.”

Tsai mentioned she reiterated to the congressional delegation that Taiwan is dedicated to upholding the established order, which the Taiwanese authorities has outlined as “no unification, no independence, and no use of power.”

“To protect peace, we should be robust,” she mentioned, paraphrasing Reagan. “I wish to add that we’re stronger once we are collectively.”

After the assembly, China’s Ministry of International Affairs mentioned in a written assertion, “In response to the egregiously fallacious motion taken by america and Taiwan, China will take robust and resolute measures to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The earlier Home speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), visited Taiwan in August, prompting Beijing to launch missiles over the world, deploy warships into the Taiwan Strait and perform army workouts in a simulated blockade of the island.

McCarthy had initially deliberate to satisfy Tsai in Taiwan. However to keep away from additional upsetting China, the assembly passed off throughout Tsai’s journey to the U.S. and Central America.

Talking to the media with different Congress members Wednesday afternoon, McCarthy mentioned he doesn’t have particular plans to go to Taiwan. However he didn’t rule out the potential for going.

“I might not go for a easy goal for myself … and it wouldn’t be in an adversary position,” he mentioned.

Tsai spent two nights in New York, then visited Guatemala and Belize, that are amongst Taiwan’s few remaining formal diplomatic allies, earlier than arriving in L.A. on Tuesday.

Beijing views Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Celebration as Taiwan independence activists, despite the fact that Tsai’s public statements are rigorously calibrated to keep away from crossing that line.

After she was elected to her first time period as president in 2016, Tsai declined to endorse the idea that Taiwan and the mainland are a part of one China, prompting Beijing to chop diplomatic contact together with her.

Talking to reporters Wednesday at a gathering in Brussels of NATO overseas ministers, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken mentioned that “transits” via the U.S. by Taiwanese presidents are nothing uncommon, nor are conferences with American elected officers.

In 2018, Tsai made a public speech in L.A. and toured NASA’s mission management advanced in Houston. Her go to to an 85C Bakery Cafe, which is headquartered in Taiwan and has a number of areas in Southern California, prompted calls from China supporters to boycott the enterprise.

“So it’s a good distance of claiming that, provided that, Beijing shouldn’t use the transits as an excuse to take any actions to ratchet up tensions to additional push at altering the established order,” he mentioned. “And our goal stays the identical, to have peace, to have stability throughout the Taiwan Strait, and to make sure that any variations that exist between mainland and Taiwan are resolved peacefully.”

Bonny Lin, a senior fellow for Asian safety and director of the China Energy Mission on the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research, mentioned Beijing’s response to the McCarthy-Tsai assembly may vary from army drills to financial sanctions, saying she wouldn’t be shocked if there may be at the very least a medium-sized army response.

“We additionally know that China’s response has been extra excessive over time,” Lin mentioned. “As China’s army functionality has elevated, as China’s general energy has elevated, Beijing now not feels that it must tolerate some of these actions.”

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is surrounded by safety guards as she arrives on the Westin Bonaventure Resort on Tuesday.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Occasions)

As Tsai stepped out of her automobile in entrance of the Westin Bonaventure Resort after arriving in Los Angeles Tuesday evening, pro-China protesters chanted, “In opposition to Taiwan independence! One China!” in Mandarin.

Tsai waved to supporters displaying U.S. and Taiwan flags.

Ziyun Zhang, a 30-year-old Uber driver, is from China however traveled from the Bay Space to root for Tsai.

He mentioned he moved to the U.S. in 2020 after criticizing the Chinese language authorities and Hong Kong’s extradition legislation on the WeChat app. He mentioned Chinese language police interrogated him for an hour and warned that he would go to jail if he continued to talk out.

“We nonetheless assist [Tsai] due to democracy,” Zhang mentioned. “She additionally stands with us … She stands in opposition to the dictatorship of the [Chinese Communist Party].”

Earlier than Tsai arrived, small scuffles broke out when a few of her supporters tried to grab indicators from the pro-China crowd. Police ultimately separated the 2 teams by a number of yards. Nonetheless, they engaged in occasional shouting matches, chanting dueling slogans.

One China supporter, Peter Wei, mentioned he doesn’t see a distinction between individuals from mainland China and Taiwan.

“We now have the identical cultural background. We converse the identical language,” mentioned Wei, an engineer who got here to the U.S. from Beijing in 1990 at age 13.

Wei, president of the Chinese language American Group Assn. in Southern California, thinks that Tsai’s go to will irritate anti-China sentiment within the U.S.

“Her goal is to not relaxation on her strategy to Central America,” Wei mentioned. “Her goal is to wreck the connection between the U.S. and China.”

Occasions employees author Tracy Wilkinson contributed to this report.