TAIPEI, Taiwan — A bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers met Monday with Taiwan’s new leader Lai Ching-te, the first such visit since Lai’s inauguration last week, in what the lawmakers and Taiwanese officials said demonstrates the steadfastness of U.S. support for Taiwan at a time of escalating tensions with China.
China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory even though the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled the island, last week responded to Lai’s inauguration with large-scale military drills, surrounding the island in a blockade-style exercise that involved more than a hundred aircraft and dozens of warships.
“America is and always will be a reliable partner, and no amount of coercion or intimidation will slow down or stop the routine visits by the Congress to Taiwan,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and leader of the delegation, said Monday at a joint news conference with Lai.
McCaul, who traveled with Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.), Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), Andy Barr (R-Ky.), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), said the delegation had come to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to Taiwan and understand the new Lai administration’s priorities and objectives — a typically bipartisan approach for U.S. administrations and lawmakers, but also one that Republicans have increasingly scrutinized as China ramps up its military displays and other actions to isolate Taiwan.
China has criticized U.S. interactions with Taiwan, particularly by high-level officials, as a violation of the sovereignty it claims over the island. In 2022, in reaction to a visit to Taiwan by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), China launched a barrage of missiles into the sea near Taiwan in a retaliatory show of force.
