Did Hell Freeze Over? Pelosi Praises McCarthy for Taiwan Diplomacy

Six months ago, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Rep. Kevin McCarthy a “moron.”

In turn, the then-Republican Minority Leader talked in jest about hitting Pelosi over the head with the big wooden gavel that would become his with his ascension to the Speakership.

Related Story: McCarthy: ‘I Want You There When Pelosi Has to Hand Me the Gavel’

But, on Wednesday, Rep. Pelosi praised McCarthy after he and a bipartisan delegation of lawmakers hosted Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California.

The meeting was intended as a show of U.S. support for the self-governed island, which  China claims as its own.

“Today’s meeting between President Tsai of Taiwan and Speaker McCarthy is to be commended for its leadership, its bipartisan participation, and its distinguished and historic venue,” the San Francisco Democrat said in a statement.

The historic venue: the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

McCarthy became the most senior elected U.S. official to meet with Tsai in the United States. Last week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) reportedly met with Tsai in New York City.

You might recall that Pelosi Pelosi went to Taiwan in August despite warnings from China not to go.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., right, shakes hands with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen after delivering statements to the press after a Bipartisan Leadership Meeting at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (AP/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

China Warns US Against Taking a ‘Dangerous Road’

Beijing responded to the meeting by saying it would take “resolute and forceful measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” China also urged the U.S. “not to walk further down a wrong and dangerous road.”

However, as of Thursday afternoon, there was no overt sign of a Chinese large-scale military response, the Associated Press reported.

“America’s support for the people of Taiwan will remain resolute, unwavering, and bipartisan,” McCarthy said at a news conference on Wednesday. later. He also said that U.S.-Taiwan ties are stronger than at any other point in his life.

Tsai said that the “unwavering support reassures the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated.”

US Lawmakers Land in Taiwan

Meanwhile, House Foreign Affairs Committee head Michael McCaul of Texas is leading eight other lawmakers on a three-day visit to Taiwan. The purpose of their trip is to discuss regional security and trade.

“By being here, I think (it)  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,” McCaul told reporters on Thursday.

(Associated Press contributed to this article.)