Taiwanese President promises to keep up exchanges with the world

Taoyuan: After coming back from a trip to Central America and the US, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen said that the country will not be stopped from engaging with the world. China has responded with anger about her meeting with the US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

China claims Taiwan is its territory despite the island nation being a democratically governed country. Beijing had demanded that the meeting be cancelled.

Coming back from the tour, she said: "We showed the international community that in the face of pressure and threats Taiwan will be even more united and will absolutely not yield to suppression, nor due to obstructions stop exchanges with the world," reported Reuters.

When then US-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, China responded with military drills. This time, Taipei had reported sighting a Chinese aircraft carrier group far off its eastern coast but not other unusual military movements.

Soon after Tsai's flight landed at Taiwan's main international airport at Taoyuan outside of Taipei, China's Taiwan Affairs Office released a statement. It reiterated Beijing's opposition to the US trip and technically billed it as a "transit". China also called the trip a "provocation" relying on the US to seek independence. No retaliatory steps were mentioned in the statement.