U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday in Simi Valley, California, further simmering U.S. tensions with China.
McCarthy went on to call Tsai a "great friend" and said that the U.S. and Taiwan will work closely together to ensure "economic freedom, democracy, peace and stability" in Asia.
Neither McCarthy nor Tsai spoke of China by name at the meeting, but rather held talks on bringing stability to East-Asia.
Tsai additionally thanked the U.S. for enhancing Taiwan's defense capabilities, referring to the billions of dollars in annual U.S. arms sold to Taiwan.
by Vanessa Brooks