US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said he plans to lead a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan this spring, despite renewed tensions with Beijing over China’s alleged spy balloon incursion over the US.
“I think it’s important to show China that we support Taiwan as a deterrence. I think it’s important to do that,” McCaul, a Republican, said in an interview on Tuesday.
The schedule and member list remains fluid, but the trip would likely take place during the congressional recess in April, a person familiar with the matter said.
Photo: AP
Discussions with some House Democrats have started about joining such a trip with McCaul, said one of the lawmakers who have been approached.
McCaul said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy would plan a separate trip to Taiwan either later this year or next year.
He said he intends to join McCarthy, whenever the speaker does go.
The US-China relationship is already under fresh strain after Beijing flew an alleged spy balloon across the continental US and accused the administration of US President Joe Biden of overreacting when it shot the balloon down over the Atlantic Ocean.
China declined a US request to hold a secure call between US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chinese Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和) immediately after the balloon was downed, the US Department of Defense has said.
House Republicans have made competition with China a key feature of their agenda now that they control the chamber, and lawmakers formed a bipartisan select committee to study the matter.
McCaul has pushed the Biden administration to impose stronger export controls cutting China off from critical technologies.
US Senator Todd Young, a Republican who also visited Taipei last month, encouraged McCarthy and every other member of the US Congress to go.
In an interview, he said the Chinese government told him to cancel the visit.
“The worst thing we could do is to balk,” Young said.
At least 37 US lawmakers visited Taiwan last year, by far the most in a decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Young was the first lawmaker to visit this year on Jan. 17.
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
BASIC OPERATIONS: About half a dozen navy ships from both countries took part in the days-long exercise based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea An unpublicized joint military exercise between Taiwan and the US in the Pacific Ocean last month was carried out in accordance with an international code, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. According to a Reuters report citing four unnamed sources, the two nations’ navies last month conducted joint drills in the Western Pacific. The drills were not made public at the time, but “about half-a-dozen navy ships from both sides, including frigates and supply and support vessels, participated in the days-long exercises,” Reuters reported, citing the sources. The drills were designed to practice “basic” operations such as communications, refueling and resupplies,
‘MONEY PIT’: The KMT’s more than NT$2 trillion infrastructure project proposals for eastern Taiwan lack professional input and financial transparency, the DPP said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would ask the Executive Yuan to raise a motion to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ infrastructure proposals and prepare to file for a constitutional interpretation if the KMT-dominated legislature forces their passage. The DPP caucus described the three infrastructure plans for transportation links to eastern Taiwan proposed by the KMT as “three money pit projects” that would cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.72 billion). It would ask the Executive Yuan to oppose public projects that would drain state financial resources, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said. It would also file for
Singapore yesterday swore in Lawrence Wong (黃循財) as the city-state’s new prime minister in a ceremony broadcast live on television after Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) stepped down following two decades in office. Wong, formerly deputy prime minister, was inaugurated at the Istana government office shortly after 8pm to become the second person outside the Lee family to lead the nation. “I ... do solemnly swear that I will at all times faithfully discharge my duties as prime minister according to law, and to the best of my knowledge and ability, without fear or favor, affection or ill-will. So help me God,” the