China Offers Protesters $400 Each to Disrupt McCarthy-Tsai Meet—Report

A senior diplomat at China's consulate in Los Angeles is coordinating demonstrations to try to disrupt a private engagement on Wednesday between Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, according to Taipei's Liberty Times newspaper.

The work is being personally overseen by Li Chunlin. The deputy consul general hopes to mobilize "more than 1,000 people" with individual payments averaging $400, the publication wrote on April 4. The Liberty Times cited information obtained by Taiwanese and American intelligence agencies.

Tsai arrived in Los Angeles late on Tuesday. She is crossing the United States for the second time in a week as part of her return journey after state visits to Guatemala and Belize. Tsai was greeted outside her downtown hotel by crowds of pro-Taiwan supporters and pro-China protesters.

China's embassy in Washington and its consulate in Los Angeles didn't return separate emails from Newsweek seeking comment. The office of Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, didn't immediately respond to a query before publication.

China claims Taiwan as its own but has never governed it since Communist Party leaders took power in Beijing in 1949. Successive Chinese leaders have vowed to unify the island, if necessary by force, and prevent its formal independence. Taipei says that Taiwan—officially the Republic of China—is already a country and doesn't require a separate declaration.

Taiwan's president is scheduled to meet with McCarthy and over a dozen members of Congress on Wednesday for closed-door talks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. Beijing said that this amounts to political provocation as Washington and Taipei have no official relations.

Efforts to disrupt Tsai's stopover in New York one week ago were unsatisfactory, according to the Liberty Times. The newspaper added that the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles called for paid protesters to "make a statement" and "effectively interfere" with Wednesday's event in Simi Valley in southern California.

Li has reportedly mobilized members of the Chinese diaspora in the Greater Los Angeles area through local pro-unification associations and "united front" influence organizations, the paper wrote.

Tsai Ming-yen is Taiwan's spy chief and head of the National Security Bureau. He said at a March 30 parliamentary hearing in Taipei that pro-China demonstrators in New York were offered $200 a day to hold rallies outside the Taiwanese president's hotel.

Members of Taiwan's Foreign and National Defense Committee were told that Taipei has relevant information from counterparts in Washington and liaised with both the New York and Los Angeles police departments. Similar protests were expected in California, he said.

China's officials have privately and publicly warned McCarthy not to host President Tsai. Its Los Angeles consulate on April 4 said the meeting would further harm U.S.-China relations, and its foreign ministry added that Beijing would be watching closely.

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre on the same day said Tsai's visit was private and unofficial. There should be "no overreaction" from China, she added from the rostrum.

To lower the temperature, Tsai has chosen not to disclose in advance or broadcast in real time her meetings with U.S. elected officials. Her spokesperson, Xavier Chang, said on Tuesday that the private talks with McCarthy and others would begin at 10 a.m. and conclude by 1:30 p.m.. Afterwards, they will give separate remarks to the press.

Chang also said that Tsai's stop in New York a week earlier included separate meetings with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the New York Democrat and House minority leader, and Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Joni Ernst (R-IA).

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