US lawmakers arrive in Taiwan amid tensions with Beijing

TAIPEI • A US congressional delegation led by Senator Ed Markey landed in Taiwan yesterday for a two-day visit, a trip that risks keeping tensions with China high after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island earlier this month.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be reunified, by force if necessary.

Beijing has conducted military drills around the island to express its anger at Mrs Pelosi's visit to Taipei.

The de facto US embassy in Taipei said that Mr Markey is being accompanied by four other lawmakers on a trip that it described as part of a larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region.

Taiwan's presidential office said the group will meet Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen this morning.

The delegation will also meet Taiwan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu and local lawmakers, according to a statement from Taiwan's Foreign Ministry.

"Especially at a time when China is raising tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the region with military exercises, Markey leading a delegation to visit Taiwan once again demonstrates the United States Congress' firm support for Taiwan," the presidential office said.

Mr Markey chairs the Senate Foreign Relations East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Sub-committee.

The co-leaders of the visit are Representative John Garamendi of the congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group and Representative Don Beyer, a spokesman for Mr Markey said.

The others are Mr Alan Lowenthal and Ms Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen.

China's embassy in Washington said yesterday that "members of the US Congress should act in consistence with the US government's 'one China' policy", and argued that the congressional visit "once again proves that the US does not want to see stability across the Taiwan Strait and has spared no effort to stir up confrontation between the two sides and interfere in China's internal affairs".

Mr Markey's office said the lawmakers "will reaffirm the United States' support for Taiwan as guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, US-China Joint Communiques, and Six Assurances, and will encourage stability and peace across the Taiwan Strait".

The group will meet "elected leaders and members of the private sector to discuss shared interests including reducing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and expanding economic cooperation, including investments in semiconductors", Mr Markey's office said.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry published pictures of four members of the group being met at Taipei's downtown Songshan airport, having arrived on a US air force transport jet, while Mr Markey arrived at Taoyuan International Airport.

"The delegation will meet with senior Taiwan leaders to discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment, global supply chains, climate change and other significant issues of mutual interest," the de facto US embassy said.

While China's drills around Taiwan have abated, Beijing is still carrying out military activities.

Eleven Chinese military aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait's median line or entered Taiwan's air defence zone yesterday, Taiwan's Defence Ministry said. Thirteen planes crossed the strait last Saturday, the ministry said.

Mrs Pelosi's stopover in Taiwan drew a strong response from China.

Besides the military drills, Beijing denounced the trip as a violation of the US pledge decades ago not to formally recognise the government of Taiwan.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG