Taiwan’s president lands in New York amid threats from China

Beijing warns that Tsai Ing-wen’s planned meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy could provoke retaliation.

Tsai Ing-wen departs the Lotte Hotel in Manhattan on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen arrived in New York on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) for her first visit to the US in more than three years, in the face of threats from Beijing that American politicians who engage with her could trigger unspecified retaliation.

Her visit through to Friday provides Ms Tsai with a rare opportunity to command an international stage and promote the democratic island to its most prominent champion, the US

Ms Tsai’s presence in the US is non-official, in line with US policy towards China, and is technically considered a transit.

Several dozen people holding Taiwan and US flags outside Ms Tsai’s Midtown hotel on Wednesday afternoon were outnumbered by hundreds of Beijing supporters with Chinese flags who were kept to the other side of the street by police. Some carried signs calling Ms Tsai a traitor.

In keeping with past transit stops, Ms Tsai won’t be meeting with senior members of the Biden administration. US officials cautioned Beijing not to overreact, noting that Ms Tsai has visited the US on similar stopovers on six previous occasions.

The visit could, nevertheless, spark an angry response from Beijing. China considers Taiwan an integral part of its territory and contends that any interaction with Ms Tsai or other leaders by US authorities violates diplomatic agreements.

“The trip is not so much a ‘transit’, but an attempt to seek breakthroughs and propagate ‘Taiwan independence’,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday. “The issue is not about China overreacting, but the US egregiously conniving at and supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists.”

Ms Tsai’s expected meeting with Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy next week in Los Angeles is likely to prove the most consequential aspect of the Taiwanese president’s two-part US visit.

Between New York and California, Ms Tsai will visit Guatemala and Belize, two of the 13 countries that diplomatically recognise Taiwan. The tours are her first since the pandemic curbed Ms Tsai’s generally limited international travel, which last took her to the US in mid-2019.

An official in China’s Taiwan-policy office warned that any meeting between Ms Tsai and Mr McCarthy will trigger a response, although she didn’t spell out what form the reaction would take. “We firmly oppose this and will definitely take measures to respond,” Zhu Fenglian said.

In the middle of last year, China issued similar warnings in the face of expectations of a visit to Taiwan by Mr McCarthy’s Deomcrat predecessor, Nancy Pelosi. After Mrs Pelosi’s two-day visit last August, China kicked off wargames around Taiwan that culminated with a simulated blockade of the island.

The White House described Mr McCarthy’s planned visit with Ms Tsai as a private and unofficial one and said it shouldn’t lead to a strong response from Beijing. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the administration was “mindful that things are tense right now” but there was “no reason for this transit to contribute to any of those tensions.”

Washington takes no position on Taiwan’s status and has a policy known as “strategic ambiguity” about whether US forces would defend the island against Chinese aggression. Successive administrations have sold arms to the island and President Joe Biden has permitted more US troops to conduct training there. Mr Biden has said the US would defend Taiwan from Chinese attack, though the White House has walked back those comments, saying US policy hasn’t changed.

The US has said that it is intent on limiting the likelihood of military conflict over Taiwan’s status. “We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side,” a US official said.

Retaliation from Beijing over the Taiwan president’s US activities could range from more Chinese military patrols closer to Taiwan, as many China watchers expect, to sanctions on Mr McCarthy and others who meet with Ms Tsai. The Chinese government placed sanctions on Mrs Pelosi after her travels to Taiwan. Such a move freezes any assets held in China and bars Chinese entities from doing business with the sanctioned party.

Beijing could also further constrain the already limited contacts with the Biden administration; last August it cancelled or suspended eight avenues for co-operation, including on military issues. A next target could be co-operation on climate change.

The Wall Street Journal