House Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed plans to meet with Taiwan’s president in the US this year but stressed that meeting doesn’t preclude a trip to Taiwan later. “That has nothing to do with my travel, if I would go to Taiwan,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday night when asked about the meeting. The Financial Times on Monday first reported McCarthy’s plans to meet in California with President Tsai Ing-wen rather than Taipei, a trip that would have angered Beijing. “China can’t tell me where and when I can go,” McCarthy said. Last month, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul said McCarthy would plan a trip to the island either later this year or next year. But such a visit was seen as setting up a potential confrontation similar to the one in August when former Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan. McCarthy has said he would like to travel there as speaker and take a bipartisan group of lawmakers. But the Chinese government has urged McCarthy not to visit the island and “to earnestly abide by the one-China principle,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Jan. 30.