The meeting between Republic of China (Taiwan) President Tsai Ing-wen and United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday reflected bipartisan support for Taiwan by US lawmakers amid efforts not to anger China based on Washington’s “one China policy,” analysts said on Thursday.

The meeting, which was also attended by a bipartisan group of Congress members, is a rare occurrence in the highly polarised US political sphere, Lu Yeh-chung, director of the Department of Diplomacy at National Chengchi University, told CNA.

The meeting was carefully arranged by the sides, with the aim being not to irritate China, evident in the cautious remarks by US administrative officials, Lu said.

However, McCarthy referred to Tsai as “Taiwan president” in an effort to highlight Taiwan’s existence under the framework of the US “one China policy,” he said.

It would take time to see whether fallout from the Taiwan issue would continue in the US, he added.

Nevertheless, Lu said, Beijing’s reaction is worth observing as McCarthy mentioned arms sales, economic/technology cooperation and shared values in a press event after his talks with Tsai, which clearly aligned Taiwan with the West.

“Tsai’s overseas trip underlined Taiwan’s existence in the world, and it is a fact that China must face,” Lu said.

Meanwhile, Singaporean academics opined that the Tsai-McCarthy meeting highlighted increasingly normalised interactions between Taiwan and the US, which they said will help boost two-way exchanges based on bipartisan backing for Taiwan from US lawmakers.

The meeting, condemned by Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of its territory waiting for unification with the People’s Republic of China, was the first encounter between an American House speaker and a leader of Taiwan on US soil.

Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said gradually normalised Taiwan-US interactions could help boost bilateral cooperation and forge synergy, even if they are not built upon official relations.

McCarthy’s calls for strengthened arms sales to Taiwan and deepening of two-way trade and technology cooperation could help speed up the process of US weapons sales packages to Taiwan, he said.

Echoing Chong’s comments, Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of international relations at Nanyang Technological University, said Taiwan and the US both wanted to achieve some political objectives through this meeting.

While Taiwan hoped to cement two-way relations with the US to underline its importance to US’ interests, the US wanted to show its all-round support for Taiwan, he said.

Li also noted that McCarthy and other lawmakers refrained from making offensive remarks, which he said was an indication that they did not want to annoy Beijing nor anticipate a new round of tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

The meeting has reflected a common position between the Republican and Democratic parties toward Taiwan, he noted.

As to the “joint cruise and patrol special operation” launched by Beijing on Wednesday, Li said it is intended to display China’s discontent over the Tsai-McCarthy meeting and emphasize its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.

https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202304060023

Category: Taiwan