U.S. Congressional Delegation Visits Taiwan Again

It is reported on August 14th-15th, less than two weeks after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, another U.S. congressional delegation made a two-day visit to the island.

Senator Ed Markey, the Democratic chairman of the Asia-Pacific Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, led a delegation on a two-day visit there. They flew to Taoyuan Airport last Sunday and were greeted by Alexander Tah-ray Yui, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

The other four members of the delegation departed from Yokota Air Force Base in Japan on a U.S. Army C-40C executive plane and landed at Taipei Songshan Airport last Sunday night. Members of the delegation include Democratic Reps. John Garamendi, Alan Lowenthal, Don Beyer, and Republican Rep. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen. They were hosted by Douglas Yu-tien Hsu, Director General, Department of North American Affairs of MOFA.

The five-member group arrived at the presidential palace in the morning and met with President Tsai Ing-wen for more than an hour, longer than originally scheduled.

The Chinese Embassy in the United States urged congressmen to act following the U.S. government’s “One China Policy”. They questioned whether the visit to Taiwan was another indication that the U.S. would betray its commitment to keep stability in the Taiwan Strait and provoke cross-strait confontation as well as interfere in China’s internal affairs.

U.S. lawmakers have been visiting Taiwan for decades and will continue to do so, the White House National Security Council said, adding that such visits are in line with the U.S. one-China policy.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s military drills against Taiwan have not yet ended, and U.S. military aircraft have landed on the island’s soil again. But the Chinese Foreign Ministry has not even protested against it. It only responded as “waiting to see”. What are they waiting for?