Legislative speaker Yu Si-kun (???) on Saturday took to Facebook to congratulate former U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on becoming the 55th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In his Facebook post, Yu said McCarthy is a friend and supporter of Taiwan and thanked the U.S. politician for supporting the nation.

Yu said Taiwan and the U.S. share the values of democracy, freedom, human rights and respect for the rule of law.

McCarthy won the House speakership late Friday night after 15 rounds of voting over four days, even though the Republican party to which he belongs has a majority of seats in the chamber.

The vote, the longest it has taken to swear in a speaker of the House of representatives in 164 years, concluded with McCarthy finally securing 216 votes.

The 57 year-old Republican has served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California since 2007.

McCarthy also served as House Republican Chief Deputy Whip from 2009 to 2011, House Majority Whip from 2011 to 2014 and as House Majority Leader from 2014 to 2019.

He is a member of the China Task Force founded in 2020 to stand up to China.

McCarthy has also previously declared that he would establish a select committee on China if elected speaker.

On Taiwan, McCarthy have outspokenly advocated in favor of U.S.-Taiwan relations, including supporting arms deals.

McCarthy also congratulated President Tsai Ing-wen (???) in 2016 when she won the Republic of China (Taiwan) presidency for the first time.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed congratulations to McCarthy, saying it looks forward to deepening cooperation with McCarthy and congressional friends from both parties to strengthen Taiwan-U.S. relations and to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel