Taiwan Rejects China Pressure Ahead of House Speaker Meeting

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen delivers a speech as she attends a banquet hosted by Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno, in Belize, in this handout picture released on April 4, 2023. (Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters)
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen delivers a speech as she attends a banquet hosted by Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno, in Belize, in this handout picture released on April 4, 2023. (Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters)
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Taiwan Rejects China Pressure Ahead of House Speaker Meeting

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen delivers a speech as she attends a banquet hosted by Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno, in Belize, in this handout picture released on April 4, 2023. (Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters)
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen delivers a speech as she attends a banquet hosted by Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno, in Belize, in this handout picture released on April 4, 2023. (Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters)

Taiwan pushed back against threats of retaliation by China, ahead of an expected meeting between President Tsai-Ing-wen and the US House speaker Wednesday that will underscore her government's claim to sovereignty.

Tsai has been visiting the island's remaining diplomatic allies in Latin America, Belize and Guatemala. The most politically sensitive part of her trip will be a meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles while she transits on her way back home.

China views Taiwan as its own territory and treats any dealings between US and Taiwanese officials as a challenge to its sovereignty. Tsai's tour is a bid to demonstrate that her government has international support.

Belize and Guatemala are two of just 13 countries that formally recognize Taiwan, a number that has dipped as China has put pressure on and funneled money into isolating the island. Tsai's Latin American trip comes just a week after Honduras announced it was cutting ties with Taiwan in favor of China, potentially prompted by a $300 million hydroelectric dam project in central Honduras built by a Chinese company.

Last week, and again on Monday, China threatened with countermeasures if Tsai met with McCarthy. The Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles issued a statement Monday saying it opposed any “any form of contact” between Taiwan authorities and the US.

“The reality and current situation that both sides of the (Taiwan) Strait belong to one China is very clear,” the statement said.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a daily news briefing Tuesday that China “will closely follow the developments and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it has never been part of China, and that China's recent criticism has become increasingly “absurd.”

“Taiwan, the Republic of China, is a sovereign country, and has the right to make its own determination in developing relations with other countries in the world,” it said in a statement. “It does not accept interference or suppression by any country for any reason, and will not limit itself because of intimidation or interference.”

The United States’ longstanding “one-China” policy acknowledges that the Chinese claim Taiwan as their territory. However, the US does not endorse that claim and remains Taiwan’s most important provider of military hardware and other defense assistance.

China has repeatedly asserted its claim to Taiwan, though Taiwan maintains its own democratic system of government since the sides split after a civil war in 1949.

Keeping up the military pressure, China's People’s Liberation Army sent 20 warplanes toward Taiwan Monday to Tuesday as well as three warships in the latest round of exercises, which have increased significantly in recent years.

China regularly sends warplanes around the island and has at times seemingly used the exercises as a demonstration of its ire.

Last December, China sent 71 planes and seven ships toward Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force after it expressed anger at Taiwan-related provisions in a US annual defense spending bill.

And last year, China responded to a visit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan with the largest live-fire drills in decades that included firing a missile over the island, which had landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone.

The PLA’s increased military activity near Taiwan has raised concerns among regional governments, and also drawn greater international attention and rhetorical support for Taiwan’s defense. US legislators have also started visiting Taiwan at a greater frequency, as anti-China sentiment and concerns over China's strategic position grows in Congress.



Trump Team Says Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire Deal Brokered by Biden Is Actually Trump’s Win

Former US President Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally in Traverse City, Michigan on October 25, 2024. (AFP)
Former US President Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally in Traverse City, Michigan on October 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Trump Team Says Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire Deal Brokered by Biden Is Actually Trump’s Win

Former US President Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally in Traverse City, Michigan on October 25, 2024. (AFP)
Former US President Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally in Traverse City, Michigan on October 25, 2024. (AFP)

The Biden administration kept President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration closely apprised of its efforts to broker the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah that took effect early Wednesday, according to the outgoing Democratic administration.

Trump’s team, meanwhile, was quick to spike the football and claim credit for the rare spot of good news for a Democratic administration that's been dragged down by the grinding Mideast conflict.

"Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump," Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice for his national security adviser, said in a post on X on Tuesday, shortly before the Israel Cabinet signed off on the agreement. "His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won’t be tolerated. I’m glad to see concrete steps towards de-escalation in the Middle East."

The Biden administration's reported coordination with Trump's team on its efforts to forge the ceasefire in Lebanon is perhaps the highest-profile example of cooperation in what's been a sometimes choppy transition period.

Trump's transition team just Tuesday reached a required agreement with President Joe Biden’s White House that will allow transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce before Trump takes office on Jan. 20. There has been some coordination on high levels between the outgoing Biden and incoming Trump teams, including talks between Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Waltz.

Biden in Rose Garden remarks on Tuesday cheered the ceasefire agreement as a critical step that he hoped could be the catalyst for a broader peace in the Mideast, which has been shaken by nearly 14 months of war following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

"This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities," Biden said. "What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed — I emphasize, will not be allowed — to threaten the security of Israel again."

White House officials are now hopeful that a calm in Lebanon will reinvigorate a multi-country effort at finding an endgame to the devastating war in Gaza, where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable.

Biden said the US, as well as Israel, will engage in talks in the coming days with officials from Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye to try to get Gaza talks back on track.

But during Biden's moment of success in a conflict that has roiled his reputation at home and abroad, the specter of the incoming Trump administration loomed large.

Trump’s senior national security team was briefed by the Biden administration as negotiations unfolded and finally came to a conclusion on Tuesday, according to a senior Biden administration official. The official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity on a call organized by the White House, added that the incoming Trump administration officials were not directly involved in the talks, but that it was important that they knew "what we were negotiating and what the commitments were."

Trump's team and allies, meanwhile, said there was no doubt that the prospect of the Republican president returning to power pushed both sides to get the agreement done.

Waltz, in addition to giving Trump credit for the ceasefire deal coming together, added a warning to Iran, Hezbollah's chief financial backer.

"But let’s be clear: The Iran Regime is the root cause of the chaos & terror that has been unleashed across the region. We will not tolerate the status quo of their support for terrorism," Waltz said in his post.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, also gave a shoutout to the incoming administration, while giving a nod to Biden's team.

"I appreciate the hard work of the Biden Administration, supported by President Trump, to make this ceasefire a reality," Graham said in a statement.

Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Washington group Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said the moment magnifies that Iran — which he said would have needed to approve of Hezbollah agreeing to the ceasefire — is carefully weighing what lays ahead with Trump.

"There’s zero doubt that Iran is pulling back to regroup ahead of Trump coming into office," said Goldberg, a National Security Council official in Trump's first administration. "It’s a combination of Israeli military success and Trump’s election — the ayatollah has no clothes and he knows we know."