By Yimou Lee and Michael Martina
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Thursday he spoke with House Speaker Mike Johnson and other U.S. congressional leaders during his visit to the Pacific, as China called the Taiwan issue a “red line” not to be crossed in Sino-U.S. ties.
China considers democratically governed Taiwan its own territory without any right to the trappings of a state, and has condemned Washington for allowing Lai to stop over in both Hawaii and Guam during a visit to the Pacific.
Lai said he had spoken with Republican Johnson and other congressional leaders including Democrats Nancy Pelosi, a former House speaker and stalwart Taiwan supporter, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Johnson’s office confirmed the Wednesday call but gave no details. Lai also said he spoke with Republican Senator Roger Wicker.
“#Taiwan is grateful for the bipartisan #US Congressional support as we advance peace & prosperity in the Indo-Pacific,” Lai wrote in a post on X.
Asked about the call with Johnson, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said the government had already made clear its position on Lai’s visits to the United States.
“I would like to emphasise once again that the Taiwan issue is the core of China’s core interests and the first red line that may not be crossed in Sino-U.S. relations,” Lin Jian told a regular news briefing in Beijing.
The United States, Lin said, must stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence and separatist forces.
“China will take resolute and forceful measures to firmly safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Sources familiar with the situation have told Reuters that China could launch a new round of war games in response to Lai’s trip to the Pacific, which included stopovers in Hawaii, a U.S. state, and the U.S. territory of Guam.
While in Hawaii, Lai spoke for 20 minutes with Pelosi, whose 2022 visit to Taiwan as House speaker prompted a furious response from China.
In 2022, China held war games around the island, infuriated at a trip to Taiwan by Pelosi, at the time Speaker of the House.
Lai rejects China’s sovereignty claims.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee in Taipei and Michael Martina in Washington; additional reporting by Colleen Howe in Beijing and Doina Chiacu in Washington; writing by Ben Blanchard; editing by Tom Hogue, Clarence Fernandez and Mark Heinrich)
