By Shawna Mizelle | CNN
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is poised to meet with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday — a historic event that comes amid warnings from China.
The California Republican’s office shared details of the meeting in a release Monday morning. The release states that McCarthy will host a bipartisan meeting with Tsai at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
That group will include Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, who is a member of Democratic leadership, and the bipartisan leaders of the select committee on China, among others, according to a copy of the invite list obtained by CNN.
The meeting has been long anticipated and is all-but-guaranteed to rattle the tense relationship between the US and China, which became even more fraught after a Chinese spy balloon floated over North America and was then shot down by US fighter jets in February.
CNN previously reported that Tsai is visiting Central America on a diplomatic mission that includes stop overs in the US. China has pledged to “resolutely fight back” should a meeting between Tsai and McCarthy take place.
China’s ruling Communist Party claims the self-governing island democracy as part of its territory despite never having controlled it.
Under the “One China” policy, the US acknowledges China’s position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially recognized Beijing’s claim to the island. China’s leadership has refused to rule out the use of military force to bring the island under Beijing’s control.
The White House is declining to say whether it supports the planned meeting between McCarthy and Taiwan’s president.
“I would refer you to the Speaker’s office and to President Tsai’s office for any details on a potential meeting,” principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton said in response to a question from CNN aboard Air Force One Monday.
After arriving in New York City on last week, Tsai said that Taiwan’s relationship…
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