April 10, 2023: On Wednesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a bipartisan congressional delegation are meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Simi Valley, California, in a place that has surged simmering U.S. tensions with China.

It is known as Tsai, “a great friend to America,” the Republican House speaker stated that they would “find the way for the people of America and Taiwan to work all in to promote economic freedom, peace and stability in Asia.”

Taiwan is a self-ruling democracy, but China expresses Taiwan as a province of the Chinese continent. Beijing is considering any attempt by Taiwan’s leaders to act accordingly of Beijing as a threat to Chinese sovereignty.

Neither McCarthy nor Tsai stated in China by name at a joint appearance, but the looming reason from Beijing was never far away.

“Today, the peace we have are maintaining, and the democracy which we have is working hard to build are to state unprecedented challenges,” said Tsai.

She thanked members of Congress for “enhancing Taiwan’s self-defence capabilities,” a reference to the billions of dollars in annual U.S. arms sales to Taiwan that receive congressional approval.

Speaking at a solo press conference, McCarthy stated that the United States should speed up its arms deliveries to Taiwan.

He compared the island territory to Ukraine, which had spent the previous year defending against a brutal Russian invasion. McCarthy said that if the United States had produced more weapons for Ukraine over the past decade, that might have changed Moscow’s calculus.

Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy observed private meetings she held last week with small people of U.S. lawmakers. On Friday, she met with three Senate Armed Services Committee members in New York City: Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, R-Iowa, and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

Also, on Friday, Tsai discussed with House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries in his place state of New York.

Unlike those low-key meetings, therefore, McCarthy’s afternoon of scheduled events with Tsai included House people and featured several joint shows covered by the international media.

Even stakes meetings billed as private became public when McCarthy wrote in a tweet a photo of him and Tsai speaking each one.

The meeting with China’s Communist Party leadership prompted veiled problems from Beijing to members of Congress who attended the events. China’s government planned to take “resolute actions” to respond to the “provocation.”