US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy to visit Taiwan later this year. AFP.
New York: US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is expected to visit Taiwan later this year. The Pentagon is making preparations for his tour which could come as soon as spring.
McCarthy’s travel to Taiwan could further tense relations between China and the US at a time when both Republicans and Democrats are asking Joe Biden-led administration to take stringent stand against Beijing.
Earlier this month, the US House voted to form a new China select committee that will focus on the threat to America’s economy posed by the Chinese Communist Party.
‘Would fly to visit Taiwan’
During the 2022 midterm elections, McCarthy said that he would fly to Taiwan if he becomes House Speaker. He made the remark even when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plans to visit the island nation was criticised.
McCarthy supported Pelosi’s historic trip to the east Asian nation who travelled to Taipei on a US Air Force jet in August 2022 along with five other members of Congress.
During her visit, Pelosi accused China of “standing in the way” of Taiwan’s participation in international affairs and cautioned that US’ commitment to preserving democracy “remains ironclad”.
For the unversed, Pelosi was the highest-level US official to visit Taiwan since House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997.
Elaborate security planning
McCarthy’s possible visit to Taiwan would require elaborate security planning and preparation for any possible response from China.
His visit to Taiwan would be the latest in a series of US lawmakers who travelled to the island nation last year. China, however, responded to each visit by ramping up military drills near the island.
Pelosi’s trip had set off nearly two weeks of Chinese military drills around Taiwan.
Meanwhile, China argues that US lawmakers visit are an infringement of the One China policy, which states that Beijing is the sole government of China. It also restricts the Washington from holding formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Taiwan first split from mainland China after pro-democracy forces lost a civil war to the Chinese Communist Party in 1949.
Even though Taiwan has its own democratic government, China has long claimed the island nation as its own territory. While the Washington agreed not to hold formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, it has supplied the government with means of defense and other support.
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