Watch: Taiwanese president and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy give statement

Watch from California as the Taiwanese president and the US House Speaker deliver a statement following their meeting.

Tsai Ing-wen and Kevin McCarthy’s meeting marked the first such engagement in the United States, and is seen as a show of democratic solidarity in defiance of threats from China.

China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own, has made threats of retaliation over the meeting.

Tsai is also scheduled to meet with a bipartisan group of US lawmakers at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

It marks the first time a Taiwanese president will meet with a House Speaker on US soil.

Her planned stopover followers her official visits to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize.

Beijing launched extensive military drills around the island after McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, paid a visit to Taiwan last year.

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