These lawmakers will join McCarthy’s meeting with Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is set to welcome Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday, in a high-profile and high-stakes meeting that will feature both Republicans and Democratic lawmakers showing support for the democratic island.

McCarthy will host a meeting with Tsai at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The Taiwanese president is “transiting” through Los Angeles on her way back to Taiwan from official diplomatic engagements in Central America.

The “transiting” label is a careful exercise in allowing high-level meetings between the Taiwanese president and U.S. lawmakers that falls below the threshold of official engagement that is a red line for Beijing.

Joining McCarthy in California are more than a dozen Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

This includes the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.)

The committee was established by McCarthy and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) at the start of the 118th Congress as an effort to chart the way forward on Washington’s policy towards Beijing, and to identify key areas of risk in American ties with China. 

McCarthy also invited Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), the Democratic Caucus Chair, a member of House Democratic leadership, to attend the meeting in California. 

Other attendees include Reps. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means; Julia Brownley (D-Calif.); John Curtis (R-Utah); Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.); Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa); Trent Kelly (R-Miss.); John Moolenaar (R-Mich.); Seth Moulton (D-Mass.); Adrian Smith (R-Neb.); Michelle Steel (R-Calif.); Haley Stevens (D-Mich.); Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.); Rob Wittman (R-Va.) and Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.).

The Chinese government in Beijing has reacted harshly to Tsai’s travel and the expected meeting with McCarthy, viewing the high-level engagement as a threat to its claims of sovereignty over the self-governed, democratic island. 

“The Chinese side will closely monitor the situation as it develops and resolutely defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters on Tuesday. 

Tsai visited New York last week, ahead of her trips to Guatemala and Belize, where she reportedly met with House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), and Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). The senators are all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 

Tsai’s “transit” through the U.S. is her seventh such trip since she was elected president in 2016.

The Biden administration has characterized her trip as “private travel” and said there is nothing unusual about her stopovers, and warned China off of overreacting and carrying out harsh retaliation measures.

In August, China reacted harshly to a visit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to Taiwan by carrying out large-scale, live-fire military exercises and war games in six areas surrounding Taiwan and that included missile launches over the island. The Chinese also cut off specific diplomatic channels of communication with the U.S. in retaliation for the visit.