- The Taiwanese leader’s 10-day visit to Central America will also include two US stopovers
- China calls US transits a ‘provocation’, says Tsai should ‘behave herself’
Beijing has warned that it will “resolutely hit back” if a planned meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy goes ahead during her transit through the United States. Chinese officials also pressured Tsai over what they said was a plan to use her US transit to seek independence for the self-governing island. The meeting with McCarthy was to take place during Tsai’s expected stopover in Los Angeles.
Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the mainland State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, issued the warning on Wednesday, hours before Tsai left for a 10-day tour to visit the island’s Central American allies of Guatemala and Belize. Tsai was expected to stay two nights in New York before continuing to Guatemala and then Belize. On her way back to Taiwan, she is expected to stay in Los Angeles for two nights from April 4, according to the island’s Presidential Office. While in New York, Tsai is expected to address an event hosted by the Hudson Institute on Thursday and will receive a “global leadership award” from the think tank, the Financial Times reported earlier, citing people familiar with the situation. The report also said Tsai would meet McCarthy in his home state of California and give a speech at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley.
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