Top Asian News 3:36 a.m. GMT

US House leader and Taiwan president meet as China protests

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Risking China's anger, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday as a “great friend of America" in a fraught show of U.S. support at a rare high-level, bipartisan meeting on U.S. soil. Speaking carefully to avoid unnecessarily escalating tensions with Beijing, Tsai and McCarthy steered clear of calls from hard-liners in the U.S. for a more confrontational stance toward China in defense of self-ruled Taiwan. Instead, the two leaders stood side by side in a show of unity at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, acknowledging China's threats against the island government but speaking only of maintaining longstanding U.S.