The White House has stated that Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s stopover in the United States is consistent with longstanding US policy and has urged China to avoid overreacting to the transit. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby emphasised that the transit is in line with US policy, which acknowledges China’s claim over the self-ruled island. Kirby noted that there is no reason for China to overreact and that Washington is hoping for a normal, uneventful transit by Tsai. Tsai is due to travel through New York on Wednesday and pass through Los Angeles in April as part of a trip to and from Guatemala and Belize. She is scheduled to return to Taipei on April 7.
Although Tsai has passed through the US before, most recently in 2019, this time she is expected to meet US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California, a move that will likely draw Beijing’s ire. Beijing has repeatedly warned against the meeting, claiming that Tsai’s US transits are devised to allow her to meet US officials and legislators. Zhu Fenglian, the spokesperson of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, warned that if Tsai has contact with US House Speaker McCarthy, it will be another provocation that seriously violates the One China principle, harms China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and destroys peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Under the One China policy, the US acknowledges the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing over the Republic of China (ROC) in Taipei as the sole and legal government of China. However, Washington takes no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, contending that the island’s future should be determined by peaceful means. This policy is different from the PRC’s One China principle, under which Beijing insists that Taiwan is an inalienable part of its territory. The US does not officially recognise Taiwan but has trade and security relations with the island.
Ties between Beijing and Washington have soured over numerous points of tension in recent years, including trade issues, the status of Taiwan, China’s claims in the South China Sea, and an ongoing US push against growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. The two countries’ ties were further strained earlier this year when the US shot down what it said was a Chinese spy balloon that traversed its territory. China insisted the aircraft was a weather balloon that strayed off its course and condemned the decision to bring it down.