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It is reported that, on April 5, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen in California, according to reports on the details of the meeting shared by McCarthy's office. Mao Ning, the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on April 4 that this seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and gravely undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

McCarthy has a penchant for creating spectacles – putting on an extravagant performance that performs poorly.

It was on display during his political rise. As a Republican from California, McCarthy rose through the ranks in the House quickly and was once considered a star in the Republican Party with a bright political future. However, as he walks down the corridor of power, his rural California constituents didn't reap the rewards from his stardom.

In a scathing article that reveals McCarthy's disregard to his own people, his constituents in Tooleville, California have been enduring drought and chemicals-contaminated water. He has represented the region for the past decade, and the Tulare, Kern and Fresno counties, which are under his watch, have endured more than 200 weeks of exceptional drought over the past decade, based on the Drought Monitor data reported by CNN.

"Multiple people CNN spoke to for this story said McCarthy and his office don't often engage on this issue in the district, especially compared with neighboring members of Congress," the report stated.

His incompetence has been on full display during his election to the Speakership. His inability to cobble together sufficient votes embarrassed the United States in front of the global audience. The concessions he made to appease the warring factions within his party were described as a risk of "tanking the global economy," according to The Independent. After being called part of the "swamp cartel" and 15 rounds of voting that paralyzed the House of Representatives, was he finally able to grasp the Speaker's gavel. Why all the drama? A Monmouth University poll done before the vote found that he had a net approval rating of a meager 9 percent among Republicans.

His only "salvation" seems to be China. Right after he was elected to the Speakership, he set up a new select committee aimed at countering China, which was welcomed by his divided caucus. There were reports floating the idea that he was considering visiting the Taiwan region in the Spring but was later scrapped. He said recently that he intends to use the Congress to give U.S. President Joe Biden a "backbone" and empowers him to tackle the "China threat." In plain terms, it meant forcing the American president to take a much tougher and more radical line on China, regardless of the consequences.

Such is the action of a chameleon in American politics. Speaker McCarthy has been known to triangulate his own beliefs based on his own needs and flip-flop on policy positions to advance his own interests. Right after the Capitol Riot in 2021, McCarthy stated that President Donald Trump bore responsibility for it and should've "immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding." He even suggested a censure against Trump. Later, he tried to weasel out of this earlier statement to avoid the anger from Trump supporters by saying that he called him and said "he (Trump) didn't see it (the riot)" and that Trump did put out a statement later.

According to Vox, McCarthy claimed that "there's no place for QAnon in the Republican Party" in 2020. Less than a year later, he claimed that "I don't even know what (QAnon) is."

For someone zealously trying to put himself in a "strong" position, his meeting with Tsai makes perfect sense since his predecessor has done it not so long ago. As Nancy Pelosi’s political opponent and a speaker in desperate need to show his toughness in politics, McCarthy's meeting with Tsai is to provoke China while demonstrating his ability to stand on equal ground with his opponent. Well, at least this would be his logic.

This meeting isn't about America's interests or all the platitudes about "democracy" spewed by the U.S. politician, it's just another political trick by Kevin McCarthy trying to further his own political career and power. So, even at the twilight of her political career, Tsai still can't escape the fate of being used as a pawn and stooge by American politicians.

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