ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Taiwan threat from China serious, U.S. House Republican chairman says

Share
WASHINGTON -

The chairman of the House Select Committee on China said Saturday the U.S. must take seriously the threat posed to Taiwan, as Beijing launched military drills around the island in the aftermath of the Taiwanese president's meetings with American lawmakers.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who attended the meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen in California last week, told The Associated Press that he plans to lead his committee in working to shore up the island government's defences, encouraging Congress to expedite military aid to Taiwan.

"I think it all just points to what is obvious," Gallagher told the AP, arguing that Chinese President Xi Jinping is intent on reunifying Taiwan with the mainland.

"We need to be moving heaven and earth to enhance our deterrence and denial posture, so that Xi Jinping concludes that he just can't do it," Gallagher said.

China conducted drills with warships and dozens of fighter jets around Taiwan on Saturday, the Taiwanese government said, in what was viewed as retaliation for the meeting between the U.S. lawmakers and the president of the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Tsai in a bipartisan session at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, with more than a dozen members of the U.S. House for what was the most sensitive stop during her transit through the U.S.

China's response to Tsai's transit through the U.S. has not, so far, been as intense as its reaction last year after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.

While both McCarthy and Tsai spoke in measured remarks after the meeting about maintaining the status quo between their countries, which have no formal diplomatic ties, the daylong meeting enraged China.

The Chinese military announced the start of three-day "combat readiness patrols" as a warning to Taiwanese who want to make the island's de facto independence permanent.

Taiwan split with China in 1949 after a civil war, and the United States broke off official ties with Taiwan in 1979 while formally establishing diplomatic relations with the Beijing government.

The U.S. acknowledges a "one China" policy in which Beijing lays claim to Taiwan, but it does not endorse China's claim to the island and remains Taiwan's key provider of military and defence assistance.

The ruling Communist Party says the island is obliged to rejoin the mainland, by force if necessary. Beijing says contact with foreign officials encourages Taiwanese who want formal independence, a step the ruling party says would lead to war.

Chinese officials condemned Tsai's meetings with lawmakers and announced sanctions on two organizations that hosted her in the U.S., but its immediate response so far has been less forceful than its reaction to Pelosi's August trip to Taiwan.

China had warned U.S. lawmakers not to join the meeting with Tsai, Gallagher said. And after the meeting, China urged the U.S. off what it called a "wrong and dangerous road"

Gallagher, who served as a U.S. Marine with tours in Iraq, said U.S. lawmakers will not be intimidated by the Chinese.

"It's an attempt to shift the ideological battle space and, again, an attempt to intimidate us, and make us feel like we're changing the status quo and provoking them, when the opposite is true," he said.

Gallagher said he wants Congress to work on stepping up its military commitments to Taiwan. He said the U.S. should be more quickly sending weapon systems to Taiwan for its defence.

One idea that arose from the meeting, he said, was for the U.S. to help Taiwan with technology to manufacture its own defense systems.

In 2022, China responded in the aftermath of Pelosi's visit with its largest live-fire drills in decades, including firing a missile over the island.

Chinese officials gave no indication whether the drills underway now might include a repeat of previous exercises with missiles fired into the sea, which disrupted shipping and airline flights.

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.