Despite Angry China, Again U.S. Officials Arrives in Taiwan

Taipei: A U.S. official on the Senate Commerce and Armed Services committees arrived in Taiwan on Thursday on the third such visit this month, opposing strain from Beijing to stop the trips. Representative Marsha Blackburn showed up in Taiwan’s capital Taipei on board a U.S. military aircraft.

China, which claims Taiwan just like its own territory against the solid protests of the democratically chosen government in Taipei, launched military drills close to the island after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit in early August.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said Blackburn was because to meet President Tsai Ing-wen on her trip, which ends on Saturday, as well as top security official Wellington Koo and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. “The two sides will exchange views extensively on issues such as Taiwan-U.S. security and economic and trade relations,” the ministry included in a short proclamation.

Taiwan’s presidential office said President Tsai Ing-wen will meet her on Friday morning. The Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t quickly answer a solicitation for comment. Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, prior in August voiced support for the trip by Pelosi, a member of U.S. President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party.

“We must stand with Taiwan, and I applaud Pelosi for not backing down to Biden or the CCP,” Blackburn said in a Twitter post at that point, alluding to China’s ruling Communist Party. Pelosi’s visit angered China, which answered with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, and by dumping a few lines of discourse with Washington.

She was followed after seven days after the fact by five other U.S. legislators, with China’s military responding by completing more activities close to Taiwan. The United States has no formal strategic relations with Taiwan but is limited by regulations to give the island the resources to safeguard itself.

China has never precluded utilizing power to bring Taiwan under its influence. Taiwan’s administration says the People’s Republic of China has never controlled the island and thus has no privilege to claim it, and that only its 23 million individuals can choose their future.