Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen plans to meet U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a trip to the United States seems to be a way of trying to avoid tensions with China after a controversial trip to the island by McCarthy's predecessor Nancy Pelosi last year, according to a former U.S. diplomat.
William Stanton, who ran the American Institute of Taiwan AIT - the U.S. Embassy on the self-ruled island from 2009 to 2012, said in an exclusive interview with The Japan Times in Taipei that while Tsai is keen on securing McCarthy's support, she may also hope to temper China's reaction by meeting the Republican Congressional leader outside of Taiwan.
Stanton said that the change of venue could be viewed as a proactive step to avoid Beijing's dangerous, large-scale military exercises and missile launches near the self-ruled island that Pelosi visited last August, even though Beijing would condemn the meeting regardless of the location. This could be due to a conflict with your ad blocking or security software. You can add to your list of permitted sites jp and piano.io. If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see this FAQ. We apologize for the inconvenience.