Tsai Ing-wen meeting with House speaker protested

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

Tsai arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday night during her trip to two Central American countries. Her "transit" through the US and her meeting with the Republican politician from California have been condemned for damaging cross-Straits relations and US-China relations.

"Such acts have gravely violated the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques, seriously infringed upon China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and sent seriously wrong signals to the separatist forces for 'Taiwan independence,'" a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.

"China firmly opposes and strongly condemns the acts. Over recent days, in disrespect of the stern representations and repeated warnings lodged by China, the United States has obstinately allowed Tsai Ing-wen's 'transit' trip through the United States and the high-profile meeting between Tsai and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the third highest-ranking official of the US government. It also allowed US officials and congressional members' contact with Tsai, and provided a platform for Tsai to make separatist remarks seeking 'Taiwan independence,'" the spokesperson said.

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 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 and slogans like "Opposing Tsai Ing-wen's transit through the US", "Unification of Taiwan to realize rejuvenation of the Chinese nation", and "Stop the provocations on China".

"This meeting does not have to happen. This meeting 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 in both Taiwan and the mainland, then they would not have done 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 is the potential violation of the Shanghai Communique. It's up to our leaders here in the US, and we have a responsibility as people living in the US to tell our leaders that this is not OK," he said.

Mouzaoui said that many Americans do not understand that the foundation of peaceful relations between the US and China is respect for the one-China principle and allowing Taiwan and the mainland to resolve their differences 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.

"Our politicians and our corporate media are not giving the American public the full story and the full history of diplomatic relations between the US and China, and if the American people actually learned about this history, especially about the Shanghai Communique and the fact that there's an official US position to respect the one-China policy, then people would have a much different attitude about this meeting," he said.

The real intention of Tsai's "transit" is to conduct "Taiwan independence" activities, said Fred Zou, deputy secretary-general of the Alliance for China's Peaceful Reunification, USA. "The protests in Los Angeles have united the overseas Chinese on the West Coast, from Seattle to San Diego, together to show our desire for peace and resolute opposition to war," he told China Daily.

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

Julie Tang, a retired judge and co-founder of Pivot to Peace, said, "We condemn the reckless and irresponsible acts of Speaker McCarthy. Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen is taking 23 million people in Taiwan down the road to destruction. And Speaker McCarthy could care less as long as he thinks China could be contained.

"They are provoking war in Asia. If war breaks out, we have no false hopes that our leaders will be looking out for us, or defending us against anti-Asian hate," Tang said. "What kind of democracy are we living in?"

Wei Yu, organizer for CODEPINK's "China is Not Our Enemy" campaign, said she participated in Wednesday's protest because the meeting violated the one-China policy, 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 Executive Intelligence Review, criticized some Republican politicians for looking to score political points while ignoring the interests of the American people.

The Republicans are always trying to "push the envelope" on the Taiwan question with little "pushback" from the Biden administration, 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.

"Unable to secure 'moderate prosperity' for people at home, they have taken umbrage at the fact that 'Communist' China has brought over 800 million people out of poverty. As the 'trickle-down' economics of the US policy elites dries up, the growing prosperity of Chinese people stands as an indictment of the failure of their policy," said Jones.

"And this they will not tolerate. Therefore, provocations on Taiwan become the order of the day. The 'adults' in the room should correct this blunder, but, at the moment, they are nowhere to be found.

"The US cannot, and hopefully, will not, question the one-China policy, but skirting around the issue without actually questioning it can become a dangerous game," he said.

Yifan Xu in Washington contributed to this story.