A delegation of US lawmakers yesterday arrived in Taiwan for a two-day visit, the second high-level group to visit the nation amid military tensions with China.
Beijing has been holding military drills around the nation to express its anger at this month’s visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto US embassy in Taipei, said that the delegation is led by US Senator Ed Markey, who is being accompanied by US representatives John Garamendi, Alan Lowenthal, Don Beyer and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen as part of a larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The AIT said the delegation would meet with senior Taiwanese leaders to “discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment, global supply chains, climate change and other significant issues of mutual interest.”
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the bipartisan and bicameral delegation, saying it demonstrates the US’ firm support amid China’s escalation of regional tensions.
Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said the visit “once again demonstrated the US Congress’ resolute support for Taiwan,” as well as its commitment to working with democratic partners to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region.”
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The delegation’s trip comes less than two weeks after Pelosi concluded a 19-hour visit to Taiwan on Aug. 3, the first visit by a sitting US House speaker since 1997.
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
RSS