China is urging House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) not to visit Taiwan after learning the Republican leader is planning a trip to the island later this year.
It is a critical point in the escalating tensions between Beijing and Washington. “We urge certain people in the United States to earnestly abide by the one-China principle,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said in a statement, referring indirectly to McCarthy’s plans. He added that China “opposes any official interaction with Taiwan.”
McCarthy’s visit would be similar to that of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last year, which drew the ire of the Chinese government and further escalated tensions with the United States.
It also comes as House Republicans take a hardline position on China with the new Congress establishing a select committee on US-China economic relations as one of its first actions.
“China is the number one country when it comes to intellectual property theft,” McCarthy said on “Meet the Press” in November. “All the other nations combined, China steals more than they do. We will put an end to this and we will not allow the administration to sit back and allow China to do what it is doing to the United States.”
For China, Taiwan has an illegitimate government. Although the United States officially adheres to the “one China” policy, which does not recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty, it has always supported Taiwan, both economically and militarily.
President Biden has suggested that he would send US troops to help repel a possible Chinese invasion of the island.
Following Pelosi’s visit to the Taiwanese capital Taipei last August, which had broad bipartisan support, China responded with a massive show of force that included air and sea drills and a possible cyber attack on the Taiwanese government.
Chinese officials called Pelosi’s visit “playing with fire” at the time.
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