A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has praised Taiwan for its determination to uphold democracy, Vice President William Lai (賴清德) said on Tuesday during a stopover in Los Angeles en route to Honduran president-elect Xiomara Castro’s inauguration.
Several lawmakers at an online meeting with 17 members of the US Congress earlier that day praised Taiwan for sticking to democracy, Lai told the Taiwanese community in Los Angeles via a videoconference.
They hailed the nation for not bowing to pressure from China, despite Beijing sending warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and conducting disinformation campaigns, Lai said.
Photo: CNA
Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), who also attended the meeting with lawmakers, said that Lai spoke to several groups of them during about 10 hours of videoconferencing.
“Supporting Taiwan has become a common language in the US Congress,” Hsiao said, adding that a member of the US House of Representatives told Lai that the House rarely reaches a cross-party consensus such as that on supporting Taiwan.
In addition to welcoming Lai, US representatives from California, Arizona and Utah told him about their administrative achievements in support of Taiwan, Hsiao said.
They expressed concerns on issues such as cross-strait security, Taiwan’s national defense, bilateral trade and economic ties between Taiwan and the US, global supply chains, supporting the nation in its efforts to participate in international organizations, and Taiwan-US cooperation on technology development, Hsiao said.
Lai told the lawmakers that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) attaches great importance to Taiwan-US relations, Hsiao said.
The vice president highlighted the shared values and common interest between the US and Taiwan, particularly in ensuring security, stability and economic development in the Indo-Pacific region, she added.
US Senator Edward Markey, who chairs the US Senate Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy, and US Representative Mark Takano, who chairs the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, were among the lawmakers present during the online meeting, Hsiao said.
Others in attendance were US Representative John Curtis, who served as a missionary in Taiwan 40 years ago, and US Representative Burgess Owens, a former professional American football player who in 1980 won the Super Bowl with the Oakland Raiders, Hsiao said.
Asked whether other video conferences with US officials had been arranged for Lai, Hsiao did not respond.
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