TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Members of a U.S. congressional delegation said Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen told them the citizens of her island democracy have the “will to fight” against a possible Chinese invasion.
Tsai spoke on Saturday during a closed-door meeting with a U.S. congressional delegation led by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, after the Taiwanese leader returned from the United States, where she met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and others. The Saturday meeting took place in Taipei as the Chinese Communist Party’s military conducted drills off the coast of Taiwan in retaliation for Tsai’s meetings with U.S. leaders.
TAIWAN SPEAKER SAYS ISLAND MUST BECOME “FISH BONE” CHINA WOULD CHOKE ON
Tsai and McCaul gave brief remarks at the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday. McCaul and the House members subsequently met with Tsai and members of her administration behind closed doors.
Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, said during a press gaggle that the “readout” from Tsai’s comments on deterring China during the closed-door meeting included “the will of the Taiwanese people is just as strong as the Ukrainian people, however it will be stronger if we can provide them with the arms that they already purchased.”
Young added that the “Taiwanese people have the will to fight, but it will be even stronger if they have the ability to do so, so the delivery of weapons that they purchased and being able to expedite getting it to their hands is something that she mentioned.”
On Friday, McCaul said Tsai “welcomes our support, welcomed the Speaker’s support, in a bipartisan way” and said “the Taiwanese people need to know the United States backs them, and that helps with their will and their will to fight.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said Tsai brought up the example of former president Ronald Reagan and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, specifically their leadership and famous personal partnership during the Cold War.
McCaul said Tsai and the congressional delegation talked about the need to speed up U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan and increasing U.S. military training of Taiwan’s armed forces, all with the main goal of deterrence. They also discussed Taiwan’s response to a possible Chinese blockade of the island as well as a potential full-scale invasion with Tsai.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Michael Minihan warned earlier this year that China may invade Taiwan as early as 2025.
The Ukrainian will to fight the Russians has been widely cited as a key factor for why Ukraine has survived the Kremlin’s onslaught.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been seen as a “wake-up call” for Taiwan related to the China threat.
On Friday, You Si-kun, the president of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, said “Putin actually saw Ukraine as a delicious meal, but after taking action and starting a war, he realized it’s actually a fish bone that is stuck in his throat.” He called it “a warning for Xi Jinping as well” and suggested Taiwan must similarly become like a “fish bone” that the Chinese leader would choke on.
McCaul began his own remarks at the Taiwanese foreign ministry by declaring “we love Taiwan” in Chinese.
“Let me congratulate you on your recent visit to the United States. You are a very brave and courageous leader and president of Taiwan. We are stronger when we stand together. We come to Taiwan not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans, in strong support of this beautiful island,” McCaul said. “It is important that all democracies stand together against tyranny and oppression, whether it be Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, to Communist China’s acts of aggression against your nation and the Pacific. … Madame President, we stand with Taiwan.”
President Joe Biden has repeatedly vowed that the U.S. would respond militarily to defend Taiwan if China attacked the island.
By the time that Tsai spoke on Saturday morning, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense assessed that 42 PLA aircraft and eight Chinese military ships had been detected near Taiwan, and that 29 of the Chinese aircraft “had crossed northern, central, and southern median line of the Taiwan Strait” and had entered the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, “attempting coercion on us.”
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China’s embassy in the U.S. had warned members of the U.S. delegation against traveling to Taiwan, and McCaul said Saturday that “these intimidation tactics and saber-rattling, in my judgment, only firm up our resolve against the Chinese Communist Party” and that “it has no deterrent effect on us — in fact I think it galvanizes U.S. support for Taiwan.”
