McCaul Calls Being Sanctioned by China Over Taiwan a ‘Badge of Honor’

Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) talks about China during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on Oct. 20, 2021. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) called it a “badge of honor” that the regime in Beijing sanctioned him on April 13 in retaliation for his recent visit to Taiwan and asserted that his efforts send a “seriously wrong signal.”

The Texas Republican lawmaker led a bipartisan delegation to democratically ruled Taiwan last week to discuss strengthening economic and defense ties in the face of growing Chinese aggression in the region. Meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during the trip, McCaul pledged that the United States wouldn’t bow to Chinese threats and that he would help speed up weapon sales and provide training to Taiwan’s military.

“Being sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party is a badge of honor,” he said in a statement, noting that “nothing will deter the United States from supporting free, democratic nations—including Taiwan.”

“Ironically, this baseless action serves U.S. interests by bringing more attention to our international partners and revealing the CCP’s blatant aggression.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry accused McCaul of sending a “seriously wrong signal to Taiwan’s pro-independence forces” with “frequent words and actions that interfered with China’s internal affairs and interests,” citing his Taiwan trip. The sanction, effective immediately, involves freezing all properties under the lawmaker’s name in China, banning transactions and cooperation with organizations and individuals within Chinese borders, and barring his entry to the country.

Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to seize the self-governing island by force if necessary. On April 10, China’s military ended three days of drills in response to Tsai’s stopovers in the United States and her meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) by sending 91 Chinese aircraft and 12 naval vessels past the median line of the Taiwan Strait, marking its largest military demonstration to date.

McCaul, who has described the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) threat to Taiwan as “a growing danger to the global balance of power,” said he welcomes Beijing’s blacklisting.

Beijing has a track record of imposing sanctions on foreign officials and lawmakers regarded as critics of the CCP.

It put seven senior Taiwanese officials on its sanction list in August 2022 for supporting the island’s independence, including Taiwan’s representative to the United States, Hsiao Bi-khim.

In early 2021, the CCP also sanctioned dozens of Trump administration officials who had advocated for a hardline stance on China, minutes after Joe Biden was sworn in as the U.S. president.