U.S. House of Representatives Democrat John Garamendi, left, shakes hands with Donald Yu-Tien Hsu of Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022.
AP
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U.S. House of Representatives Democrat John Garamendi, left, shakes hands with Donald Yu-Tien Hsu of Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022.
AP
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen met with a delegation of members of the US Congress on Monday in another sign of US lawmakers’ support for the self-governing island, which China claims as its territory.
Taiwanese media showed a delegation arriving for the talks, but details of the meeting were not released.
It comes less than two weeks after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan sparked days of threatening military exercises by China, including missile strikes on the island and the Taiwan Strait.
China has also sent warplanes and naval ships through the middle waterway, which has long been a buffer between the sides that split during the 1949 civil war. China sees official contacts between American politicians and the island’s government as support for its independence from Beijing.
China says it wants to use peaceful means to take Taiwan under its control, but its recent gun-rattling has underscored its military threat.
The five-member delegation, led by Sen. Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, is scheduled to meet with other government and private sector representatives. De-escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait and investment in Taiwan’s vital semiconductor industry are expected to be key topics of discussion.
Other members of the delegation are Republican Aumua Amata Coleman Redewagen, a delegate from American Samoa, and Democrats John Garamendi and Alan Lowenthal of California and Don Beyer of Virginia.
