McCaul Pledges Undeterred Support for Taiwan After Chinese Sanction
Beijing on April 13 sanctioned U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul in retaliation over his recent visit to Taiwan, claiming that the move had sent a “seriously wrong signal.”
The Texas Republican lawmaker last week led a bipartisan delegation to democratically-ruled Taiwan to discuss strengthening economic and defense ties in the face of growing Chinese aggression in the region. Meeting with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen during the trip, McCaul pledged that the United States would not bow to Chinese threats and that he would help speed up weapon sales and provide training to the Taiwanese military.
“Being here, I think, sends a signal to the Chinese Communist Party that the United States supports Taiwan and that we’re going to harden Taiwan, and we want them to think twice about invading Taiwan,” he said after landing in Taiwan.
The Chinese ministry accused McCaul of sending a “seriously wrong signal to Taiwan’s pro-independence forces” with “frequent words and actions that interfered with China’s internal affairs and interests,” citing his Taiwan trip. The sanction, effective on April 13, involves freezing all properties under the lawmaker’s name in China, banning transactions and cooperation with organizations and individuals within Chinese borders, and barring his entry to the country.
Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to seize the self-governing island by force if necessary. On April 10, after ending three days of drills in response to Tsai’s stopovers in the United States, the regime sent 91 Chinese aircraft and 12 naval vessels past the median line of the Taiwan Strait, marking its largest military demonstration to date.
McCaul, who has described the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) threat to Taiwan as “a growing danger to the global balance of power,” said he welcomes Beijing’s blacklisting.
“Being sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party is a badge of honor,” he said in a statement, adding that “nothing will deter the United States from supporting free, democratic nations—including Taiwan.”
“Ironically, this baseless action serves U.S. interests by bringing more attention to our international partners and revealing the CCP’s blatant aggression,” he said.
Beijing has a track record of imposing sanctions on foreign officials and lawmakers regarded as critics of the CCP.
It put seven senior Taiwanese officials on the sanction list last August for supporting the island’s independence, including Taiwan’s representative, Hsiao Bi-khim.
In early 2021, the CCP also sanctioned dozens of Trump administration officials who have advocated for a hardline stance on China, minutes after Joe Biden was sworn in as the U.S. president.
