Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen landed in New York on Wednesday for a crucial U.S. visit, saying on the route not to let external pressure hinder the island nation from engaging with the global community after China warned action if she met U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. A determined China to not allow Taiwan to join the global communityTsai is visiting the United States for the first time since 2019, and China, which considers democratically governed Taiwan to be its own state, has repeatedly cautioned American officials not to meet with her because they believe it will be interpreted as endorsing the islands bid for separation. When Nancy Pelosi, the then-Speaker of the U.S. House, visited Taipei in August, China held significant war games close to Taiwan. Today when Tsai is away in the U.S., according to Taiwans armed forces, they will be on high alert for any Chinese military actions against them.Tsai is travelling to Guatemala and Belize, two of the handful of nations that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. On her way back from Central America, she will visit Los Angeles in addition to staying in New York till Saturday. Despite there being no formal confirmation, it is anticipated that she will meet McCarthy in California.President Tsai Ing-wen on the U.S. visitAt Taiwans major international airport in Taoyuan, Tsai declared before taking off, “External factors will not hamper our will to go to the world.”We are poised and unafraid we wont capitulate or provoke. Taiwan will firmly pursue the path of liberty and democracy and join the global community. Taiwan is not alone on this difficult journey, “added Tsai.As more nations turn to Beijing, Taiwan has begun losing formal status as a nation from more governments. On Sunday, Honduras changed its allegiance, leaving only 13 countries with official links to Taiwan. Beijing claims that Taiwan is a territory of China and, as such, has no right to relations with other countries. However, Taiwan strongly contests that.Tsai, according to two additional sources, will attend a dinner with Taiwanese Americans and non-residential Taiwanese in New York as well as a meeting with the Hudson Institute on Thursday. The Hudson Institute is a research institute that receives a sizable amount of funding from the Taiwanese government, according to its financial statements.Tsai would also meet Laura Rosenberger, chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a non-profit organisation run by the U.S. government that maintains informal connections with Taiwan, according to American officials. They would meet in the AITs Washington offices.Chinese officials on the potential Taiwan-U.S. meeting Zhu Fenglian, a spokesman for Chinas Taiwan Relations Office, stated in Beijing that China would “certainly take actions to firmly fight back” if Tsai met with McCarthy. Such a meeting “may result in another significant clash in the China-U.S. relationship,” said Xu Xueyuan, ambassadors deputy at Chinas embassy in Washington.The role of the U.S. in China-Taiwan issueChinas most contentious geopolitical problem is Taiwan, which is a significant point of concern with Washington, which, like most nations, only has informal connections with Taipei. And yet, the U.S. government requires the law to grant the island the means to defend itself, as well as facilitate the process for unofficial stopover visits.Tsais departure takes place at a time when some observers believe that relations between the United States and China are at their lowest point since Washington improved relations with Beijing in 1979 and changed diplomatic recognition from Taipei. John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House on national security, encouraged China to refrain from using a “routine” stopover as an excuse to step up its hostility towards Taiwan. Although Kirby acknowledged that relations between the U.S. and China were difficult at the moment, he asked Beijing to maintain open channels of contact.Kirby stated that Washington was still interested in rescheduling Secretary of State Antony Blinkens visit to Beijing, which had been delayed last month when a suspected Chinese spy balloon was gunned down by an American fighter jet. A meeting with McCarthy would be the first encounter between a Taiwanese president and a U.S. House Speaker on American soil, but it is considered a relatively less inflammatory alternative to McCarthy going to Taiwan, which he has stated he wishes to do.
