Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen begins US visit to shore up support

Taiwan's president is beginning a swing through the United States and Central America, a visit aimed at showing that her self-ruled island has allies as it faces a rising threat from China.

Taiwan was carefully calibrating President Tsai Ing-wen's stops in the United States, and as always forgoing any official meetings with senior U.S. leaders in Washington, in an effort to contain what China said would be a strong but as yet unspecified response.

Tsai arrived in New York on Wednesday and was scheduled to spend Thursday in the city, but few details of the trip were made public.

A senior Chinese diplomat in Washington, embassy charge d'affaires Xu Xueyan, pointed to an expected meeting between Tsai and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy elsewhere in the country. The meeting would have serious repercussions overall and a serious, serious, serious impact on U.S.-China relations, she said in a virtual session with reporters on Wednesday.

Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and chairm