The headline from Europe, China vows ahead of Tsai McCarthy meeting to quote,

firmly defend sovereignty.

Tsai Ing-wen is the president of Taiwan, traveling to the United States to New York and now

headed to Los Angeles to meet with dignitaries of the United States, including the speaker

of the House, Kevin McCarthy of California.

To help us understand the scale of this story, I welcome my colleague, Mary Kisle,

executive vice president, Stevenson corporate, former senior advisor to the Secretary of State,

Mike Pompeo, and many years in Hong Kong for the Wall Street Journal editorial board,

traveling all over Asia, especially Taiwan.

Mary, a very good evening to you. I always, when we speak of Taiwan, remember that evening,

where you were sheltered in a heavy wind in Taipei to speak to my audience.

So it's a pleasure to return to Taiwan no matter how we get there with you.

However, what is the challenge here that China continues to make threats?

This is the meeting of a president of a republic with the speaker of the House of a Republic.

Good evening to you, Mary.

Good evening to you, China. Always wonderful to be with you.

China is by its nature under the communist regime,

a bully. It's as simple as that.

And so every time China deems it to be in its own political interest, to level a threat

at the United States over a Taiwan president's visit or anything else, that's what they will do.

You'll recall, of course, when Speaker of the House Pelosi visited Taiwan last year,

Beijing through a fit and issued all manner of threats. Of course, there had been many other visits

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