TAIPEI: The chairman of the United States House of Representatives committee on China said on Thursday that support in his country's legislature for Taiwan was "extremely strong," after a meeting with the self-ruled island's top leadership.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin, heads a five-member delegation that met on Thursday with Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen and deputy leader Lai Ching-te, who won last month's leadership election and will take office in May.
"I see growing and extremely strong support for Taiwan (in the US Congress)," Gallagher told reporters.
The US is Taiwan's most important ally, and the island has been at the center of tensions with China, which claims it as its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under Beijing's control.
Gallagher, a vocal critic of China, said he believed US support for Taiwan would be unaffected by the result of his country's presidential election in November.
"I am very confident that support for Taiwan will continue regardless of who occupies the White House," he said.
He also warned Beijing against any attempt to invade Taiwan, saying to do so would be "incredibly foolish."
"If Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party were to ever make the incredibly foolish decision to attempt an invasion of Taiwan... that effort would fail," he said during his meeting with Lai.
'Tremendous pressure'
In welcoming the House representatives, Tsai said their visit demonstrated "staunch US support for Taiwan's democracy through concrete action."
"We will continue to advance our international partnerships and engage with the world. In 2024, we hope to see even more Taiwan-US exchanges in a range of domains," she added.
The delegation will stay until Saturday as part of a larger visit to the region, the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington's de facto embassy in Taipei, said in a statement.
Accompanying Gallagher are Democrats Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, and Republicans John Moolenaar of Michigan and Dusty Johnson of South Dakota.
During his meeting with the legislators, Lai thanked Washington for its support, saying they "are facing a rapidly changing global geopolitical landscape and also tremendous pressure and diplomatic, military and economic coercion coming from China."
Relations between the US and China have been fraught for years, with conflicts simmering over a gamut of issues, including trade, alleged espionage, human rights and foreign policy.
Tensions have eased markedly in the last year after a series of high-level meetings between US and Chinese officials, including one between US President Joe Biden and Xi on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, California, last November.
Thorn in ties
While the United States does not formally recognize Taiwan, it is the island's main ally and supplier of military equipment — a thorn in ties between Washington and Beijing.
The US State Department on Wednesday authorized the sale of a $75-million advanced tactical data link system upgrade to Taiwan, a Pentagon statement said.
As with previous visits by American officials, Beijing condemned the delegation's visit to Taipei, terming it "interference."
"China... resolutely opposes the United States' interference in Taiwan affairs in any way or under any pretext," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao told a regular news conference.
In August 2022, a visit by then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan triggered China's biggest-ever military exercises around the island, involving warships, missiles and fighter jets.
In the latest flare-up on the Taiwan Strait, Beijing on Wednesday accused Taipei of "seeking to... hide the truth" about an incident where two Chinese fishermen died following a confrontation between their vessel and a Taiwanese coast guard boat in Taipei-controlled waters.
Read The Rest at :
