US House leader Taiwan president meet as China protests

SIMI VALLEY, CALIF. — SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Risking China’s ire, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy welcomed Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to a high-level meeting on U.S. soil as a “great friend of America” on Wednesday in a fraught show of U.S. support. More than a dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including the House’s third-ranking Democrat, joined Republican McCarthy for the talks at southern California’s Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, against a backdrop of rising tensions between the U.S. and China. The members of Congress rose to their feet to greet the Taiwanese leader at a long table lined with bouquets.…