There is “tremendous” bipartisan support from US lawmakers for Taiwan’s security, visiting US Senator Tammy Duckworth said yesterday during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in Taipei.
“So I’m here this time to, again, talk about our support for Taiwan security,” Duckworth, a member of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, told Tsai at the Presidential Office.
“There’s tremendous support for Taiwan within the legislative branch,” she said.
Photo: CNA
Duckworth arrived in Taipei on Monday as part of a tour of the Indo-Pacific region.
She is visiting Taiwan for the second consecutive year, after stopping over for a day in June last year with US senators Dan Sullivan and Chris Coons.
Duckworth’s visit, which ends today, came four days after she introduced the Strengthen Taiwan’s Security Act, which she has said would “strengthen our support for Taiwan and provide it with the tools it needs to protect itself from any unwarranted attack.”
Duckworth said the bill has received bipartisan support, with two other Democratic and three Republican senators tapped as its cosponsors.
“I have a line of people all waiting to sign on to it, all from the Armed Services Committee,” she added.
The bill would “assess opportunities to deliver lethal aid to Taiwan, enhance Taiwan’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets and increase needed prepositioned stocks in the region,” she said in a statement.
The US’ cooperation with Taiwan is not limited to security issues, but also includes economic affairs, Duckworth said.
She voiced support for US President Joe Biden’s “efforts in engaging in economic relationships and closer relationships between our two nations on an economic front as well as on national security.”
Tsai said that Taiwan looks forward to forging closer and deeper ties with the US on matters of regional security.
The government will continue to express its willingness to participate in the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), Tsai said in her first comment on the framework since Taiwan failed to receive an invitation to join the pact.
“In the near future, we look forward to Taiwan and the US working together and taking new steps to develop concrete plans that further deepen our economic partnership,” she added.
The IPEF, launched by the US and 12 other countries, is intended as a bulwark against China’s growing economic and political influence in the region.
According to a statement issued by the White House, IPEF members would be engaging in discussions to strengthen economic cooperation on the digital economy, supply chains, clean energy and infrastructure, among other areas.
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