Congress delegation visits Taiwan amid US-China tensions

A delegation of US lawmakers has arrived in Chinese Taipei for a five-day visit, despite repeated warnings by Beijing against any interactions between Washington and the self-governing island. 

The bipartisan congressional delegation, which arrived in Taipei on Sunday, is expected to meet its secessionist president, Tsai Ing-wen, as well as business people.

On Monday, the group met with the head of Taiwan’s legislature and held talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s founder Morris Chang, considered the father of the island’s chip industry.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, criticized Beijing for opposing any form of exchange between Taiwan and foreign governments, saying that the congressional group’s visit to the self-ruled island is “in no way provocative of China.”

Head of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, You Si-kun, also used his speech to criticize Beijing, saying, “China ignores historical fact and claims to have sovereignty over Taiwan.”

“Taiwan has already become an independent sovereign nation ... Taiwan has never been ruled by the People’s Republic of China for a single day,” You said.

He made the remarks in response to Chinese top diplomat, Wang Yi, who said over the weekend at the Munich Security Conference that Taiwan “has never been a country and it will not be a country in the future.”

China has sovereignty over Chinese Taipei, and under the One China policy, almost all world countries recognize that sovereignty. The US, too, recognizes Chinese sovereignty over the island but has long courted Taipei, drawing the ire of Beijing.

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The delegation’s visit follows a sensitive trip by Michael Chase, deputy sssistant secretary of defense for China, to Taipei on Friday.

The move prompted anger in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, calling on the US to “stop interfering in the Taiwan issue.”

The previous speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan in August last year, in a highly controversial trip that drew fury from Beijing and brought the United States and China to the brink of a military crisis. 

China launched a series of military drills, summoned the US ambassador and halted some imports from Taiwan in a display of anger against her visit.

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The US, which backs Taipei's secessionist president, also continues to sell weapons to the island in defiance of Beijing, having become Taipei’s leading supplier of military equipment.

Back in September, the administration of US President Joe Biden approved over $1.1 billion in arms sales to Chinese Taipei, the largest in his tenure, which included up to 60 anti-ship missiles and up to 100 air-to-air missiles.

Since 2017, the US has approved more than $20 billion in weapons sales to Taipei.

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