US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in California

The FT added that the speaker would scrap a potential trip to Taiwan, and the meeting would instead take place in California.

“That has nothing to do with my travel, if I would go to Taiwan,” McCarthy was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

“China can’t tell me where and when I can go.”

A trip in August by McCarthy’s predecessor Nancy Pelosi sparked condemnation from China, which responded with massive military drills around the island. Taiwan lives under constant threat of an invasion by China, which views the democratically ruled island as part of its territory to be seized one day, by force if necessary.

The United States is one of Taiwan’s closest allies and biggest arms suppliers but also adopts a “One China” policy, recognising Beijing diplomatically and opposing any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side.

Taiwan’s defence minister said on Monday a sharp increase in Chinese defence spending announced at the weekend was potentially aimed at the island. “I think they are waiting for a good reason to send troops, such as high-level visits from other countries to Taiwan or too-frequent activities between our military and other countries,” Chiu Kuo-cheng said.

Tsai’s office offered no confirmation about travelling to the US when approached by AFP on Wednesday, saying the president’s schedule was still being finalized.

She was last in the United States in 2019, stopping over while making official visits to diplomatic allies in the Caribbean.