Tsai's meeting with McCarthy condemned

Taiwan leader's contact with House speaker during 'transit' sparks protests

A meeting between Tsai Ing-wen and Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the US House of Representatives, near Los Angeles on Wednesday sparked outrage among Chinese and other communities as well as peace activists, who protested in front of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Tsai, the leader of the Taiwan region, arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday during her 10-day trip to two Central American countries. Her "transit" through the United States and meeting with the Republican congressman from California have been slammed for damaging relations across the Taiwan Straits as well as China-US ties.

Protesters waved Chinese national flags and held signs saying "We want peace, no new Cold War on China", "US hands off Taiwan" and "China is not America's enemy" near the entrance of the library in Simi Valley, Southern California, where Tsai met with McCarthy on Wednesday.