Speaker McCarthy to meet Taiwan's president in US to avoid escalating tensions with China: report

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Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, will meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the U.S. early next month, instead of overseas, in order to avoid provoking China, a report says. 

McCarthy previously said he wanted to visit Taiwan if elected speaker, according to the Financial Times, and Fox News Digital reported in January that the Pentagon was preparing for the California Republican to visit Taipei later this year. 

But now with relations between the U.S. and China becoming increasingly strained, Tsai and McCarthy have agreed to meet in California instead at the start of April when the Taiwanese leader makes a trip to Central America, McCarthy’s home state and New York, the Financial Times reports. 

"We shared some intelligence about what the Chinese Communist Party is recently up to and the kinds of threats they pose," a senior Taiwanese official told the newspaper in regard to what has been communicated to McCarthy’s team, adding that China is "not in a good situation right now." 

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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen in California instead of Taiwan, a report says. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP | Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)

Representatives for McCarthy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

People familiar with Tsai’s upcoming travel plans also told the Financial Times she has accepted an invitation to speak at the Reagan Library in southern California. 

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi poses for photos after she arrived in Taipei, Taiwan, in August 2022. (Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)

In August last year, Nancy Pelosi became the first House speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years, which set off a series of threats from China, including live-fire military drills in proximity to the island and accusations that the U.S. was using "dirty tricks" with the visit. 

China warned McCarthy at the end of January not to repeat Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, and said a trip by the new speaker would violate long-standing U.S. policy that says there is just "one China." 

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Kevin McCarthy in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2023. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

China and Taiwan have been engaged in a territorial dispute. 

"We urge certain individuals in the U.S. to earnestly abide by the one-China principle," China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, adding that the U.S. should "stop doing anything that violates the basic norms in international relations." 

Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.