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.

Dozens of organizations from Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle and Portland participated in the protest. They held banners bearing their organizations' names as well as slogans such as "Opposing Tsai Ing-wen's 'transit' through the US", "Reunification of Taiwan to realize rejuvenation of the Chinese nation "and "Stop the provocations on China".

"This meeting does not have to happen. It was deliberately done in an attempt to escalate the tensions between the US and China. If these politicians were really interested in the safety and the security of the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, then they would not have had this meeting," Chakib Mouzaoui, an organizer of Pivot to Peace, told China Daily during the protest.

"This visit (of Tsai) and particularly the meeting with our lawmakers violate the Shanghai Communique. It's up to our leaders here in the US, and we have a responsibility, as people living in the country, to tell our leaders that this is not OK," he said.

Mouzaoui said that many US people do not understand that the foundation of peaceful relations between the US and China is respect for the one-China principle and allowing China to resolve its domestic affairs without meddling by US politicians.

"The American people do not benefit at all from this meeting, which is only intended to threaten that diplomatic foundation and stoke hostilities when there should be none. When these politicians show no such concern, we will take action and tell them no," he said.

The real intention of Tsai's "transit" through the US is to conduct "Taiwan independence" activities, said Fred Zou, deputy secretary-general of the Alliance for China's Peaceful Reunification, USA.

"Both the US and China have responsibilities for the world's peace. We hope Tsai stops making trouble for their relations," said Zou.

Road to destruction

Julie Tang, co-founder of Pivot to Peace, said: "We condemn the reckless and irresponsible acts of McCarthy. Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen is taking 23 million people on the island down the road to destruction."

Wei Yu, organizer for Code Pink's "China is Not Our Enemy" campaign, said that she participated in Wednesday's protest because the meeting violated the one-China principle, which has ensured peaceful relations between the US and China for decades. "Our policymakers are again recklessly escalating tensions with China," she said. "We are holding Speaker McCarthy accountable for his warmongering because the people are the tuning fork for peace."

William Jones, the Washington bureau chief of the Executive Intelligence Review magazine, criticized some Republicans for looking to score political points while ignoring the interests of the US people.

The Republicans are always trying to "push the envelope" on the Taiwan question with little "push-back" from the administration of US President Joe Biden, Jones told China Daily.

" (Some Taiwan officials) have thus always provided grist to the mill to those who would like to prevent China's development as a major power, and unfortunately the people of Taiwan — and their prosperity — are held hostage to the whims of envious politicians in Washington," he said.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com