Risking China's wrath, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday as a "great friend of America" in a fraught show of US support.
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday, becoming the most senior U.S. figure to meet a Taiwanese leader on U.S. soil since 1979 despite threats of retaliation from China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own. China staged war games around Taiwan last August following the visit to Taipei of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy welcomed Taiwan's president in California on Wednesday, in a meeting she said reassured the island's people they were "not isolated" in the face of rising Chinese anger. Tsai's visit to California is technically a stop-over after a trip to Latin America to see two of Taiwan's dwindling band of official diplomatic allies.