Bipartisan US congressional delegation arrives in Taiwan to meet with key leaders

A delegation of six US lawmakers arrived in Taiwan this evening, April 14, and will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Wu, and Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng, tomorrow, April 15, before departing Friday.

Led by Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Bob Menendez (Dem. New Jersey), and Senator Lindsey Graham (Rep. South Carolina), the group includes Republican senators Richard Burr (North Carolina), Ben Sasse (Nebraska), Rob Portman (Ohio), and Republican representative for Texas, Ronny Jackson.

The delegation arrived at Taipei’s Songshan Airport at 7:40 pm on a US military plane. Presidential Office spokesperson Xavier Chang said that the Presidential Office sincerely welcomes the delegation of six “heavyweight” members of congress, pointing out that the members were not only “senior in weight” but also all attach importance to Taiwan. Among the members of the delegation, senators Graham, Mennandez, Ball, and Jackson are all members of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus.

“The visit not only shows the bipartisan attention and support of the US Congress to Taiwan, but also once again shows the “rock solidness” of Taiwan-US relations. The Presidential Office looks forward to continuing to deepen the Taiwan-US partnership through this face-to-face exchange, and will continue to work together to contribute to global and regional peace, stability, prosperity, and development,” Chang said.

The sudden news of the visit came just days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cancelled her planned visit to Taiwan. Pelosi just happened to test positive for COVID-19 a few hours after an angry warning against the visit from Chinese Communist Party officials in Beijing. Pelosi’s proposed visit would have been the first visit by a sitting speaker to Taiwan in a quarter century, after Republican Newt Gingrich visited following Taiwan’s first democratic presidential election in 1997. 

Fortunately, four days after the positive COVID test, Pelosi tested negative for the “deadly virus.” However, associate professor at the Institute of International Politics at National Chung Hsing University, Tan Wei-en, pointed out that Pelosi’s proposed visit to Taiwan aroused sensitive nerves on both sides of the strait and drew a strong response from China, and the probability of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan after her recovery is “low,” China Times reported.

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4 thoughts on “Bipartisan US congressional delegation arrives in Taiwan to meet with key leaders

  • April 15, 2022 at 4:01 pm
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    I don’t know about the others, but I do know Pelosi is a vile satanic creature and the less we have to do with her and her ilk, the better. Taiwan does need friends, but we have to remember the old saying “You’re judged by the friends you keep.” She (actually, “it”) ain’t no keeper, that’s for sure.

    Reply
  • April 17, 2022 at 9:51 am
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    The misogynistic ad hominem attack on the current U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as a “vile” and “satanic” subhuman amounts to extremely inflammatory speech by poster “John Huston” and should not have been approved. Such vicious personal denunciations do not amount to significant discussion of the news article at all, and reflect much more on the speaker than the object of his extreme hatred.

    Reply
    • April 18, 2022 at 12:14 pm
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      Attack? Subhuman? Extremely inflammatory speech? Vicious personal denunciations? Extreme hatred? From here on in, how about YOU being the sole contributor? Everybody can just bow, scrape, and sing “Hosanna in the Highest” to your every sacrosanct utterance. By the way, what was your name again? (Full real name please.)

      Reply

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